text:
Conflict in Niger leaves children in limbo
Senegal renames slaving post: Europe Square now Freedom Square
Goree, an island in Senegal linked closely with slave trade, has decided to rename one of its main squares in response to the ongoing racism in the world.
The municipal council unanimously agreed to rename the Europe Square, Liberty and Human Dignity Square.
According to a statement from authorities, the move is in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests that have spread across the world, denouncing recurrent racial violence targeted at the black community.
The movement was provoked by the death of George Floyd, a black American who was asphyxiated by a white policeman during his arrest in the United States.
The 28-hectare island, situated two kilometres offshore from Dakar, was the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast between the 15th and 19th century, according to the UN's cultural agency UNESCO
Goree island is also registered by UNESCO as a World Heritage centre and act as a "symbol of human exploitation."
The Europe Square was inaugurated in 2003 by Mayor Senghor and the then President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. The inauguration of Freedom Square – will include events to pay tribute to George Floyd and all victims of racial crimes.
Dakar 2 summit: 'Africa must learn to feed itself', says Macky Sall
Senegal seizes over 800 kg of cocaine off coast of Dakar
US Treasury Secretary Yellen visits notorious 'House of Slaves' in Senegal
Ahead visit to DR Congo, Pope Francis denounces "colonialist mentality" towards Africa
Go to video
Timeline from a year of political turmoil in Burkina Faso in 2022
US treasury chief Janet Yellen arrives in Senegal
Sudan forces crack down on protesters in capital
Police officer who killed George Floyd seeks to have his trial overturned
Amid road safety concerns Senegalese transport unions gear up for strike

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Just emailed the Rhode Island governor informing her of the Providence police failure when the Navy Yard shooter waved a Red Flag in 2013 and suggested the legislature should focus on mental health.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 10:33 AM 2 comments:
Labels: gun control, mental illness
Rhode Island Governor's Executive Order
Essentially tells the police to do their jobs with people exhibiting danger signs. Had Rhode Island police been following this order in 2013, the Navy Yard shooting would not have happened. Providence, Rhode Island police interviewed the Navy Yard shooter who was complaining that guests in adjacent hotel rooms were trying to control him with microwaves. They did not take him in for observation.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 7:48 AM No comments:
Labels: mass murder, mental illness
The Annual Service on the Jaguar Does Not Seem Extravagant. ..
When you see the loaner. A Range Rover. Ok, the Discovery is the bare bones version, if anything Range Rover can be called bare bones. It is a 4 cylinder but turbocharged and very quick.
My wife pointed out that it is noisier and harsher rising than the Jeep. Because it is on all-season tires instead of ice tires it had less traction than her Jeep, and at twice the price is really no deal. I think she is right. The replacement for her Jeep Renegade is likely to be something like a Grand Cherokee.
Trump Pushing Improved Mental Health Care for the Poor
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/trump-administration-weighs-mental-health-coverage-option-53374849
This involves a quirk of Medicaid funding that was unknown to me, and makes no sense. Democrats ate of course upset.
Clever Strategy
Time to Go Ask Your Local Progressive Bakery to Bake an NRA Cake
Effective way to get the left to reconsider their fascist insistence of Christians doing gay wedding cakes.
Avoiding Panic
2/26/18 New York Post:
Florida lawmakers shot down an amendment on Monday that would have banned semi-automatic "assault" weapons like the AR-15 used in the Parkland school massacre.
They did, however, agree to raise the legal age for purchasing a firearm to 21 — and approved legislation that would give teachers the right to carry guns in school, NBC-2 reports.
Not sure raising the purchase age makes much sense. It won't fit on a bumper sticker: "Old enough to drive a two-ton vehicle with 400 horsepower, old enough to shoot." Letting teachers return fire, especially when local police won't, is a good idea.
The fact that teachers could soon be allowed to carry firearms inside schools wasn't sitting well with gun-control supporters, either.
"It bothers me to think as a father of two young boys to tell them to not be aggressive to your teacher," said Sen. Oscar Branynon (D-Miami Gardens).
The lawmaker told the Sun Sentinel that he and other black fathers across Florida will now have to include teachers when talking to their children about how to act around armed authority figures.
How about telling them not be aggressive towards anyone?
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 8:29 AM 3 comments:
Labels: gun control
You are doubtless aware that the DSM is the American Psychiatric Association's manual for defining mental illness. LGBTs make a big point of reminding everyone that homosexuality was removed from the DSM some years back; it is clearly not a problem. But the DSM is a highly culturally biased piece of work. Homosexuality was not added to DSM until 1952. And of course there was science to back this up as a mental disorder. It also appears that DSM-II was adapted from a World War II military standard.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 10:22 AM 1 comment:
Labels: homosexuality
When Even the New York Times Admits This...
2/23/18 New York Times:
"I know he's going to explode," a woman who knew Mr. Cruz said on the F.B.I.'s tip line on Jan. 5. Her big worry was that he might resort to slipping "into a school and just shooting the place up." Forty days later, Mr. Cruz is accused of doing just that, barging into his former high school in Parkland, Fla., and shooting 17 people to death.
Three months before the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a family friend dialed 911 to tell the Palm Beach County sheriff's office about Mr. Cruz's personal arsenal. "I need someone here because I'm afraid he comes back and he has a lot of weapons," the friend said....
In Ms. Deschamps's 911 call, she told the dispatcher that Mr. Cruz already had about eight guns that he kept at a friend's house and that he had just been thrown out of the house after the tantrum in which he punched the walls, hurled things around her home and got into a fight with Rock, her 22-year-old son....
"He got pissed off and then he came in the house and started banging all the doors and banging in the walls and hitting the walls and throwing everything in the room," she said. "And then my son got in there and he said, 'Stop it,' and he didn't want to stop."
She added: "It's not the first time he put a gun on somebody's head." Ms. Deschamps made it clear that her new houseguest was obsessed with firearms and had threatened both his mother and his brother. "That's all he wants is his gun," she said. "And that's all he cares about is his gun. He bought tons of bullets and stuff and I took it away from him."...
Mr. Cruz progressed to more distressing behavior, including possibly shooting a neighbor's chicken with a BB gun, collecting hate symbols, cutting himself, and possibly swallowing gasoline in a failed suicide attempt, according to complaints to the local authorities.
So the failure of FBI and local police to do their jobs is my fault?
Moving Assets to Higher Return Places
I refinanced my daughter's student loan debt a couple of years ago for a better interest rate. Rapidly rising house prices (which may reach current California levels by end of century) enabled her to refinance and pay me back. So I went hunting for a high return equity mutual fund to put it into. I found LGILX which had a 1 year growth of 40%, not bad as we were just leaving that kangaroo market (up, down, up, down). So I put that money in. Two weeks later it is up 1.44%.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 3:34 PM 3 comments:
Labels: becoming wealthy
How Crazy Has the Democratic Party Become?
2/25/18 San Jose Mercury-News:
California Democratic Party declines to endorse Dianne Feinstein in re-election bid
Now, I know some of it is age. She's 85. (She still doesn't exhibit the signs of semility that Rep, Pelosi or Waters show.) But amazingly enough, she is not hard enough left.
Ever Replaced Laptop Screen?
I was able to replace my Compaq NC6000 that I use for the CNC mill quite cheaply. I still have the one whose display appears only briefly in red. These instructions seem way too easy for a part available on eBay for $25.
Does Anyone Have a List of Rental Companies That Have Not Joined the SJW Movement Against NRA?
Preparing for a flight to Southern Illinois University for a symposium in April, and I do not want to encourage the SJW Controlled rental companies.
Enterprise national Alamo hertz avis budget
Just canceled my Hertz reservation and picked Dollar instead.
Someone should put together a site for " Not doing business with you again" signatures, just to show these folks the costs of politicized business.
Here's a list.
Planning to Buy an "Assault Weapon"?
I would do it soon. I fear we are going to lose this fight and in the courts. The courage to point out the utter failure of the FBI ands local police, and the underlying mental illness issue, just is not there, and the lamestream media are pulling out all stops. Please write your Congresscritters, but I have little confidence.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 12:06 PM 1 comment:
ICYMI: Cowards With Guns and Badges Stood By
2/23/18 CNN:
Information about ways the Broward County Sheriff's Office didn't sufficiently handle the shooter both before and during the incident started coming out in full force on Thursday, when Broward County Sheriff Israel announced that video showed Deputy Peterson outside the building where students were being shot for "upwards of four minutes."
"What I saw was a deputy arrive ... take up a position and he never went in," Israel said at a news conference. Israel said Peterson should have "went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer." Peterson was suspended without pay, after which he resigned.
County Superintendent Robert Runcie said, "I'm in shock and I'm outraged to no end that he could have made a difference in all this. It's really disturbing that we had a law enforcement individual there specifically for this reason, and he did not engage. He did not do his job. It's one of the most unbelievable things I've ever heard."
To both these cowards, go watch 15:17 to Paris and see how decent men deal with evil.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 1:30 AM 1 comment:
Labels: mass murder
15:17 to Paris
Awesome. See it. Maybe send the cowardly deputy sheriffs and "school resource officer," to see it, so they can see what heroes do when confronted by evil.
Labels: films
Took my wife to see 15:17 to Paris. It may not be obvious until you've seen it, and maybe only obvious to me.
Enjoy being young or even middle-aged. Enjoy your young children, as exhausting as they can be. Both will be gone before you can imagine it. I have a powerfully bittersweet memory. My wife and I were walking across the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, and our son, 5, and daughter, 9, were running across the lawns, "like two spring lambs, kicking up their heels," as my wife said at the time. I am crying as I write this because those were wonderful days, and they won't be coming back.
Labels: wisdom from an old man
The Madness Never Ends in Courts of Appeal
New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n, Inc. v. City of New York (2d Cir. 2018) If you have a premises license for a handgun in New York City, you are permitted to transport it to a range (unloaded of course) in NYC. But you may not transport it outside the city, even to your home upstate or to other states for competition. Our enemies keep talking about "common senses gun laws." What makes it common sense that you cannot take your licensed handgun out of the city for lawful activities? I would think removing the serpent of steel from a place that it might go on a rampage would be encouraged, not prohibited.
50% Approval Rating
http://m.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_feb23
I wonder how much is deplorables happy to see him resisting the CNN ginned up gun control fever.
Sanctuary State (Two Can Play That Game!)
If the Republicans in Congress manage to pass an assault weapons ban (as many would like, to embarrass Trump), perhaps Idaho can declare itself a sanctuary state for assault weapons, refusing to help in enforcement of federal laws, and threatening fines against anyone who helps BATF. This could rapidly lead to [horrors] federalism. But the progressive tears might wash California into the sea.
A Sign of Historical Illiteracy
Or what do you call this? 2/23/18 Seattle Times reports that a Norwegian flag (flown because of their victories at the Winter Olympics) was mistaken for a Confederate flag, and other papers are reporting similar claims.
Confederate (flag of treason)
Norway (an ally)
Labels: progressive self-parody
Mow the Grass as Substitute for a Wall
Victory Girls pointed me to this video of Rep. Pelosi (D-Babylon) saying the immigration problem can be solved with a fence (already there) or mowing the grass.
Labels: immigration
The CNN Town Hall Where the Crowd is Shouting "Burn Her" at NRA Rep Dana Loesch
"What do we do with witches?" Long stupid pause. "We burn them!"
Why Does Anyone Stay There?
I was having my annual dental appointment yesterday, and the hygienist was a recently arrived transplant from Norwalk, California. She loves how friendly everyone is here. I asked if she has been to the Snake River Gorge. She said that she still has not gotten used to the idea of being able to safely travel alone.
Another Article That Sounds Like Parody
2/21/18 Daily Mail:
Jeff Bezos reveals construction of a massive clock inside a Texas mountain that will chime every day for 10,000 years as a 'symbol for long-term thinking'
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who has invested $42 million (£30 million) in the project, revealed the clip on social media.
It shows workmen installing the mechanism inside a hollowed out chamber in a West Texas mountain.
The clock, powered by Earth's thermal cycles, will continue to keep time over the millennia, marking time with a chime once a day rather than each hour.
Its creators hope that this will encourage humanity to consider about their impact on the planet and act as a 'symbol for long-term thinking'.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5416495/Jeff-Bezos-reveals-footage-10-000-year-clock.html#ixzz57mKGumwP Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
I guess he's not as clever as I thought. Will it chime loud enough for the whole world to hear? Funniest of many hysterical comments at Instapundit:
Bezos is just a monocle and a fluffy white cat away from being a Bond supervillain. He's already bald and super wealthy, and is already at work on his lair built inside a mountain.
And the Lamestream Media Wonder We Do Not Take Them Seriously?
2/21/18 NBC News (or whatever it is):
he patriarchal race to colonize Mars is just another example of male entitlement
The presumed right to use and abuse something and then walk away to conquer something new is a hallmark of colonialism.
The patriarchal race to colonize Mars is just another example of male entitlement
Labels: lamestream media, progressive self-parody
I Fear We Are Losing the Debate
So use this chart:
Urban Carry G2 Holster
The ads at the start of YouTube videos are usually a complete waste on me, but I saw an ad for the Urban Carry G2 Holster and I think it is on my last of things to buy. A number of comments suggest that it is gimmicky. What other methods are there for deep concealment? IWBs still need a shirt or coat hiding the butt. Ankle holsters are generally not comfortable, and are limited to very small pistols. Pocket holsters are necessary for pocket pistols, but again limited on size of gun.
Labels: guns technical
To My Representative (You Do the Same)
I understand the pressure you must be under from Democrats and many Republicans to pass some sort of gun ban after the recent tragedy in Florida. It is important to keep the focus on the underlying problem: untreated mental illness. The shooter displays two symptoms that indicate schizophrenia: depression and hallucinations (the voices telling him to commit this monstrous crime).
These tragedies were rare before the 1970s, when efforts to destroy the state mental hospital systems began to empty out the existing hospitals and make it difficult to involuntarily commit those with serious mental illnesses BEFORE they started murdering people. Congressional hearings about mass murder should examine what states can do to provide the mental health care that they used to do, but do not do now.
Clayton E. Cramer
Did Mueller Actually Present a Serious Case?
My friend Dave Hardy, a lawyer with substantial experience as both defense attorney and employee of the Swamp examines the indictment and concludes:
If the Independent Counsel's folks did their research, they must know that Count One is questionable at least, and the remaining counts look utterly invalid. Even if the Russians indicted booked flights back here to appear, and if a DC court were to conclude that it had jurisdiction over acts that occurred in Russia, the indictment would probably go down in flames. Which leaves only one explanation for it.
My guess is that Mueller wanted to show something for all the money and time and show that while Trump's people were at best pawns of Russian attempts to destroy us politically, but will soon close up shop.
Labels: 2016 Presidential candidates, so-called Russia scandal
No Need for Sweaters?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5404287/Scientists-create-human-sheep-hybrids.html. Sucess at creating human-sheep hybrids for transplantable organs. The article admits stem cell therapy is more likely to be useful, but playing God!
Do Any of You Grow Cotton?
I would like some unginned cotton for the discussion of the cotton gin for my American history class. Ordered on eBay.
What Are Minnesotans Doing Wrong?
2/15/18 CBS Minnesota:
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) — Minnesota set a record last year for the number of gun background checks the FBI conducted in the state.
More people are carrying guns than ever before, but the crime rate remains relatively low. WCCO's Pat Kessler is looking at the numbers, and giving them a Reality Check.
We took a hard look at the numbers, and found: Minnesota has a high rate of gun ownership, and a relatively low rate of violent crime.
Minnesota's violent crime rate hit a 50-year low in 2016, according to the FBI.
And in 2017, the state set a new record for firearms background checks.
Do You and the Wife Have a Few Miles on You?
The video part is stupid. Just listen.
The FBI Had Two Warnings About The Florida Shooter
2/16/18 Washington Post:
FBI investigators ignored a warning that 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz might attack a school, failing to act on a concerned call the bureau received just weeks before Cruz allegedly carried out a shooting rampage at a high school in South Florida on Valentine's Day, the FBI said Friday.
The disclosure came two days after police say Cruz gunned down 17 people, most of them teenagers, at a high school in Parkland, Fla. The FBI — already facing intense scrutiny for its handling of political matters — described a Jan. 5 tip from "a person close to Nikolas Cruz," a tip officials acknowledge should have initiated a response. The caller reported concerns about Cruz's "gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting," the FBI said in a statement.
Five ugliest planes
On YouTube. Me 321 Gigant makes the Pregnant Guppy look okay.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 2:44 PM 1 comment:
Sowing Distrust
Mueller ' s indictment alleges Russians organized both pro- and anti-Trump rallies to show distrust in our electoral system. The left just followed along, it appears.
It was actually brilliant. Backing Trump into victory was guaranteed to make the Swamp Dwellers so angry that they could not see straight from their rage. Does anyone remember the Star Trek episode where some of the Enterprise crew are confined with Klingons and both sides have only swords so that a species that lives on hate can feed off of that hate? What's the title? Thanks! "Day of the Dove."
2/16/18 BBC as required by Swamp Creature membership admits the goal was to create hatred but still holds out hope for later indictments of Trump and associates. And of course, social media is one of the tools. Burn social media down!
Apple Seems to Have Broken iTunes
I finally persuaded it to show play lists, but it only writes random noise to the CD. InfraRecorder next.
Florida gunman says 'demon voices' told him how to pull off school shooting
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5398625/Demon-voices-school-gunman-attack-cops-called-39-times.html#ixzz57HLgUOMN Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
How to Cure Autism: Poison The Child
2/15/18 Fox News:
A mother is being accused by her husband of feeding their child bleach to cure her autism.
According to Fox59, the Department of Child Services has removed the child from the home after a father complained to police that his wife put drops of hydrochloric acid and water purifying solution (which contains chlorine) in her child's drink.
The father said his wife heard about the concoction from a Facebook group that referred to it as a "miracle mineral solution" that supporters claim is a cure-all for anything ranging from cancer to hepatitis, and even AIDS.
Facebook. Why am I not surprised? Facebook and Twitter are both strong argumentys against democracy.
Remember When Fluoridating the Water Supply Was a Communist ?Plot?
2/13/18 San Francisco Chronicle:
A ballot initiative that would ban fluoride, chlorine, genetically modified organisms and some vaccine ingredients was approved to begin collecting signatures last week, the California Secretary of State's office announced.
Dubbed the "California Clean Environment Initiative" by its creator Cheriel Jensen, the initiative would also eliminate vaccination requirements at schools and daycares, ban more than 300 chemicals it claims are linked to cancer, autism and Parkinson's disease, and prohibit the use of smart meters to monitor energy consumption.
The Pacific Ocean, which is 3.5% sodium chloride, had no comment about being ordered to leave. And yes, vaccination is bad for Mother Earth. It allows children to reach reproductive age. This sounds like a sure win in California.
Why Mental Illness Matters
03/09/16 Washington Post:
According to Coeur d'Alene police, Odom has a history of mental illness. In his manifesto, he outlined his path to Sunday's shooting in clear but increasingly paranoid prose.
He admitted to plotting to shoot Remington. He also claimed that the pastor was part of a vast alien conspiracy to enslave the human race — a conspiracy that Odom believed extended to Congress.
"My last resort was to take actions to bring this to the public's attention," Odom wrote in the manifesto. "I hope that something good comes of it. Just realize that I'm a good person, and I'm completely innocent. Also realize that the 'people' I killed are not what you think."
Then his disturbing drawing of the Martian.
"Everything started while I was at University of Idaho," Odom wrote. "Spring 2014 was my final semester and was taking a heavy course load. I was very stressed due to the intensity of my schedule, so I searched for a way to cope. I discovered meditation, which seemed to help, so it became part of my daily routine. As I learned more about meditation, I became interested in consciousness and our ability to affect it. I kept working on my meditation techniques and began achieving extreme states of consciousness."
One night in February 2014, Odom was meditating when he said he had an out-of-body experience.
"I entered a space that was completely dark and had no awareness of my physical boundaries/orientation," he wrote. "I felt very peaceful there until a blue light began to approach me. As the blue light got closer, I realized that it was another being."
When Odom awoke, he had tears in his eyes, according to his manifesto.
At first, the alleged alien encounter seemed like a blessing for Odom. "The remainder of the semester became exceedingly easy for me," he wrote. "It felt like I had tapped into some kind of power. I was exerting no mental effort even though the classes had been extremely difficult before."
But Odom's close encounter would prove to be the beginning of his nightmare.
Odom accepted an offer from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, to work on a PhD in human genetics, but he quickly dropped out because the work was too easy, thanks to his alien awakening, he wrote.
"The day after I decided to leave, my life became a living hell," Odom wrote. He couldn't sleep. After a few days, aliens posing as classmates tried to provoke him to become "the next school shooter," he wrote, so he left Texas and returned to his home town of Coeur d'Alene.
Trying Not to Laugh
Science Alert reports:
Obviously travelling at warp speed isn't a natural state of existence for most terrestrial organisms, but we never knew just how harmful the effects of maximum warp velocities could be on human beings – until now.
A new study published – yes, published – in an 'American' science journal (and accepted by three others) details how an experimental attempt to cross the transwarp barrier and achieve Warp 10 can have devastating and unforeseen consequences on human physiology. Wait… what?
Okay, if you've gotten the sense that something might be amiss with this purported science experiment, congratulations: you're already doing better than the editors of the American Research Journal of Biosciences.
They just published this hokum without realising the 'research' is actually a thinly disguised storyline of Star Trek: Voyager, Episode 31, "Threshold".
It gets worse.
Why I Try Not to Discard Stuff
My wife's PC has been using an old USB 1.1 hub and has recently started complaining that USB 2.0 would be faster. Each time it does so, it disconnects the hub, then reconnects it. For several seconds, keyboard and mouse are dead. I dug through the PC bone pile and found a USB 2.0 hub missing only the power cord which at $8.36 seems expensive, but it was here in two days and her problem is solved.
Labels: PCs
It's wonderful when something just works
The SkyCommander* on Big Bertha uses a 9V battery or a 12VDC input. Recommended below 10 degrees, and improved accuracy when moving across the sky. So I ordered this cigarette lighter to 2.1mm adapter. Plugged right into the battery pack and SkyCommander and everything works.
* This is a digital setting circle device, not an inferior officer to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Like Everything Else Apple, iTunes is Inscrutable
I would use Windows Media Player to burn copies of a CD (not under copyright), but it coughs on one track. iTunes can import all tracks, but while I can add tracks to a playlist, I can't see or select the playlist to burn it to CD. I found instructions that said to click in Edit->Preferences on display playlists, but that window has no such checkbox.
How Do You Know a University is Roman Catholic?
2/14/18 Campus Reform:
A page on the University of Dayton's website recommends that students avoid using gendered language, including "husband" and "wife."...
"As a Christian and educational community, we recognize that every person has innate dignity because all people are made in the image and likeness of God and we seek to create an environment where all persons feel respected, safe, and valued," the website explains.
University of Dayton:
The College of Arts and Sciences offers more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs across the arts, humanities, natural sciences and social sciences. Each program is rooted in our Catholic traditions and Marianist heritage to promote lifelong intellectual, personal and professional growth.
I have my theological differences with the Roman Catholic Church, but they are minor compared to the Roman Catholic Church's disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 11:17 AM 14 comments:
Amazon Droppins
I looked to see if any of these unordered, unpaid for droppings had produced any reviews supposedly by me. No, but I did find a review that I wrote of an unordered Wireless Endoscope:
I neither ordered nor paid for this, and I would prefer it had not even arrived. I discovered that it lacked the adapter to connect it to my Samsung S4. When I tried to download the drivers into my Samsung from the specified URL, there was one of those popups that warns you to install a program within 24 hours or your phone will be hopelessly infected. These are usually either viruses themselves or identity theft programs. No thanks! But it had an adapter to USB, so I plugged it into my PC. Much bigger mistake. Whatever drivers it installed, made my PC no longer start Windows. When I unplugged this device, at least I could get to the Windows safe mode startup and restore a previous date's working setup. It appears that their USB drivers are defective. A good hour wasted with this trash. Do not touch it except with a hammer.
Who buys an endoscope from Amazon?
Labels: amazon droppings
Disconnected Children
From a social worker (my daughter):
As a social worker, I have been working with teenagers for 12 years, and over that time, I've seen a disturbing increase in rageful teenagers. Ones whose anger has caused them to completely disconnect from those around them. These are not simply frustrated or angry kids who don't know how to express themselves. These are children with a chilling combination: they are furious at the adults around them and they are completely disconnected emotionally from their families....
However, I'm starting to see an increase in kids who no longer view adults that way. Ones who are so incredibly angry at the world, that their fury overrides their ability to see others are human beings. I've worked with 9, 10 and 11-year-old boys (and sometimes girls) who have assaulted teachers, headbutted school counselors, beat up school nurses, and attacked their parents. I've had young children who have bitten, kicked and left bruises and scratches all over their siblings and parents and have no remorse about it. Their anger at the world consumes them.
I don't believe these are sociopathic children who can't feel remorse. These are normal children who in better circumstances, those who had a more involved, stable set of caregivers would probably do well. Many are intelligent and have the capacity to love, but their disappointment and resentment has suppressed their remorse to the point that they no longer care about others.
I've started calling these the "disconnected children." The ones who are caught in the middle of highly contentious divorces, with parents who call child protection and the cops on each other constantly. The nine-year-old children who make statements like, "My stupid mother owes my dad $841 a month in child support, and she doesn't pay him so she doesn't love me" or "My mom says my dad doesn't even want me, because if he did, he'd show up for things." The children, who starting at a young age, have learned to lie about the opposite parent to teachers, police and social workers to assist their parents in custody cases.
I encourage you to read the whole article so you can help prevent more tragedies.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 10:26 AM No comments:
Yet Another School Mass Murder
And once again, protectors of public safety knew in advance. The FBI was warned and gathered information on the threat, but did nothing. Of course, why would they? They don't work for us, but for the Swamp Creatures.
When Will Californians Stop Electing Idiots?
When the billionaires run out of serfs, I think. 12/26/17 Daily Mail article about the homeless middle class workers of California.
The rising cost of rent and housing in California is forcing residents into alternative accommodation with middle class workers taking up residence in their cars and RVs by the side of the road to make ends meet.
Hundreds of people, including nurses and chefs, are sleeping in parking lots in affluent areas like Santa Barbara as they make the most of the only homes they can afford.
Marva Ericson, who works as a nursing assistant, has been sleeping in her Kia for the past three months. She wakes up before dawn each day, showers at the local YMCA and dresses in her hospital scrubs to head to work.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5212977/Californias-middle-class-homeless-living-parking-lots.html#ixzz57BrB1N00 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Why do they stay?
If You Wonder Why the Soviet Union Confined Political Dissidents to Mental Hospitals
History professor Nancy MacLean gave a February 7 public lecture on her controversial book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America, during which she discussed the life and work of Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan in light of the American libertarian and conservative movements.
One hour into the lecture, an audience member asked her whether she thinks Buchanan's libertarian philosophy was motivated by "personal greed" or "malevolence," to which she responded by speculating that support for individual liberty might actually be the result of a mental disorder.
"It's striking to me how many of the architects of this cause seem to be on the autism spectrum—you know, people who don't feel solidarity or empathy with others, and who have difficult human relationships sometimes," she answered."
The only reason you could disagree with the left is a mental problem.
I got into a food fight with a progressive over at The Hill and found out. that Americans are overwhelmingly progressive and that's why they voted for Trump:
1. Most voted for the most progressive candidate in the general election and many voted for Trump because they believed his lies about staying out of foreign conflicts, draining the swamp, etc.
2. Realclearpolitics, which averages polls to wash out bias, reported that in a general matchup of the most progressive candidate, Sanders, a democratic socialist, Trump would have lost by about 25%, a historic landslide. https://www.realclearpoliti...The polls also found Sanders beating Clinton by a large margin in a general matchup.
The other proof is that a majority of Americans support a progressive agenda, including
single payer healthcare
path to citizenship for undoc immigrants
universal background checks
free college for the needy
protecting and expanding the social safety net
repealing Heller and Citizen's United
repealing the Electoral College, which gave us Bush and Trump
Here is further proof:
A poll from Dec 2011 found that the most approved political label was conservative, with 67% approval
A recent poll of national leaders found only one with positive/majority support: Bernie Sanders
Another recent poll found that of all Sentators, Sanders was the most approved at 72%.
In addition, the majority of Americans now support legalization of pot and marriage equality.
I decided that if he wants to believe that almost half the country supports single payer healthcare, illegal alien citizenship, free college, more gun control, repealing Heller and thus voted for Trump over the Empress: let him stay in his bubble and keep losing.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 10:09 PM No comments:
Labels: 2016 Presidential candidates
Interesting What You Find At OpenSecrets.org
Who funds Democratic campaigns? Clinton's 2016 campaign had 4587 donors who gave $5400 or above, and 25,434 who gave $2700 and above. Trump received $5400+ contributions from 336 donors. Above $2700, 1288. But industry is also interesting. Clinton received $87,965,257 from workers in the securities & investment industry. Trump received $20,842,631from that same industry. The larger industry was Retired: $37,412,862. Who is giving $5400+ to a campaign? People like you (or even me)? No, Wall Street. They know which candidate will do their bidding.
Today's Crazy Product Idea Question
I need to prevent rotation or lateral motion of a wooden disc. (Two actually, some inches apart.) These might be 6"-12" diameter. The obvious solution is pieces of wood or aluminum with hemicircles that size that are held tight with buckles or screws, but how do you cut circles of hemicircles without forklift size mill or absurdly large drill bit and drill press with a 150 hp motor?
Thanks to all. I think I figured out a rectangular solution to constraining discs.
Launch Velocity of Third Stage for Orbital Launch
Multistage rockets are the only practical way to put objects into orbit because the weight of carrying empty tanks limits velocity. What is the velocity of an orbital insertion rocket when stages 2 and 3 separate? You would think this would be easy to find.
Supposed to be Clear Tonight
And very cold. I figured out why the digital setting circles did not work the other night by reading the manual. DUH!
I expect to hunt down the Whirlpool (M51) tonight.
It turns out M51 was too low in the sky. Still above the horizon, but my Dobsonian like many Dobsonans does not go all the way to the horizon. Viewing conditions at or near the horizon are generally awful, so why compromise the mechanical design for objects that low?
Still not tracking correctly. Not sure if polar alignment is the issue, but I realized my best way to get that is to roll out one of the telescopes on a Losmandy equatorial mount, and do star drift alignment that way. The Losmandy mounts are easy to polar align. Once done, mark the pavement.
I also think part the problem may be that the telescope is not perfectly normal to the Earth. The recoating job I did last summer is far from perfect. I plan to add one more coat of the thin surface material, perhaps thinned a little so gravity flattens the surface to normal
I figured out how to actually find objects with Sky Commander. You are supposed to align the first two stars at high magnification. I cheaped out by aligning using the finder, which is at best within a degree. Nor surprisingly, the results were less than perfect, but demonstrated that it will work. Just need to find some deep sky objects up at this time of year.
The positive to very cold is I slept very deeply; lots of calories burned.
Labels: astronomy
Where the Democrat Obsession With An Islamic America Will Take Us
2/12/18 Guardian article about how increasing Islamic influence in Malaysia is leading to increasing violence against LGBTs. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/12/malaysian-newspaper-sinar-harian-publishes-how-to-spot-a-gay-lgbt-checklist#img-1
If only LGBTs would recognize where Democratic desire for a large Islamic pulsation here will go.
Labels: homosexuality, immigration, Islam
Incredibly Clear. Below Freezing.
It has been a couple of decades since I observed in below freezing weather. Last night was awesome. I collimated the optics in late afternoon, and had very nearly perfect star images: very close to perfect round dots. I still do not have tracking perfect because getting true north is hard.
M42 was breathtaking, especially at 156x.
Losmandy mounts have vernier controls for moving the polar axis fractions of a degree, and one of mine has a polar alignment scope in the axis as well. On an equatorial platform you are trying to get the axis, which is effectively parallel to the ground, punted at the North Star. In retrospect, putting the platform on a lazy Susan to allow that sort of vernier adjustment would have been a good idea. Trying to make fine adjustments by moving a platform that weighs 130 pounds or so is not easy.
I also made one great improvement, though. The other night when trying to move or back in, I grabbed the telescope by the rocket box and tried to drag it that way, but inevitably I ended up losing it slightly which moved the entire assembly up enough to pull the top part of the platform of the base. This involved holding everything up until my wife returned to help list it off and reinstall it. So I drilled a couple 1" holes in the edge of the wooden platform that interfaces the casters and the equatorial platform, and tied a rope through both holes. Now I can pull the entire assembly from below, which prevents upward motion on the equatorial platorm. Even with my still somewhat rough surface. It moves easily and smoothly.
Labels: telescopes
Bargain Browning Hi-Power in Idaho
Here. Private party seller, wants concealed carry permit to sell. Do not blame him. An easy way to exclude people who can't be trusted with a gun (along with many others).
Getting There With The Big Bertha Rebuild
Last night it was not tracking. I pulled the two AAA batteries and without load both showed 1.39V. I was beginning to panic, but I replaced them and measured the voltage across the motor terminals and found 5V. A transformer somewhere? I suggested to the maker an LED in the circuit to show dead battery. He has already shipped his first unit with this addition. Tonight I rolled Big Bertha out again and it is definitely tracking, but I do not have a good lock on North yet, and I do not have a lot of experience using star drift technique to fix this. The good news is that even with that issue and a slight finder problem the digital setting circles are working well. It put me almost exactly on M42.
The finder problem is that the finderscope that I have been using is a straight through finder not easy to use with a reflector (think of getting your neck down low enough to see through it when you are only about five feet from ground level.) I need to replace it with a right angle one. I have a Meade right angle scope on the small reflector that I can borrow to verify that it fits these rings before ordering a new one.
The good news is that the finderscope currently on Big Bertha will fit in the rings on the 6" refractor, where straight through works fine because you are at the rear of the telescope for the eyepiece.
The current finderscope on the refractor is something of a Frankenstein; the original 1" focal length reticle eyepiece was not repairable, and the only .965" barrel reticle eyepiece available was 18mm focal length, producing an 11x50mm finder, a bit narrow field.
M42 was pretty awesome. Still needs some collimation after recent movements of hardware.
Source of the Amazon Droppings?
2/7/18 Fox News:
A Massachusetts couple who keep receiving mystery packages from Amazon fear they are the next victims in what is believed to be an elaborate fake reviews scam that is impacting the e-commerce giant.
Mike and Kelly Gallivan, of Acton, told The Boston Globe the first package arrived in October. They have continued to arrive at a rate of one or two a week, about 25 in all. The cheap items inside the boxes range from USB-powered humidifiers to rechargeable dog collars.
Our dog isn't rechargeable nor does she ever need it.
Electrical Circuit Question
If a switch is on, will the resistance be less than off? Logic tells me resistance in off should be ∞, and something less in on.
Posted by Clayton Cramer at 3:29 PM 12 comments:
Big Bertha is Remounted
The edges of the steel sheet where the casters sat were bending enough to prevent smooth motion, sometimes any motion. My wife and I removed all the layers of stuff and replaced it with a wood laminate at least as stiff (probably stiffer) with only blood (from cuts). No sweat (too cold), no tears and no screaming either.
Certain Forms of Criticism Not Acceptable
A gal criticized "Try a Hijab" booth and efforts were made to have her expelled from college.
Great Modern Art
Most Nasty and True Comment Yet!
2/5/18 Associated Press:
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Candidates would be required to be at least 18 to run for statewide offices in Kansas under legislation drafted in response to six teenagers entering the race for governor.
Quick turn the state over to the teenagers while they still know everything!
Tater and Rosie Almost Getting Along
But look at Tater's eyes as he looks at me and begs for the dog to go away--permanently.
Beyond Nerdy
Making you own telescope from scratch (starting with broken glass):
DO NOT PANIC!
I saw some left wing idiot on Fox making a big point of how Trump tweeted about the rising market for months and had not done so today.
Two days of falling stock market caused by too much good economic news, driving up interest rates. Friday bloodbath did very little harm to my IRA, probably because my mutual finds sold stocks in preparation for buying bonds.
The only downside is that I increase how much I take out of my IRA every $100,000 it goes up. I thought this was going to be twice in one year. I guess not.
I have some money from a personal loan coming back to me shortly, so this is a good time to buy more stock mutual funds.
Today, DJIA up >100 points.
What if Philly Had Lost?
Rioting, destruction of property, violence against emergency responders. To the left this is a sign of hypocrisy. To me, more evidence that alcohol is a bad idea and we have lost so much in 40 years. This 2/4/18 New York Post story suggests to me no more Superbowls until the fans learn to act like adults. And eating horse excrement: I thought only my dog was that stupid.
So Why Haven't They Cured Cancer Yet?
Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel:
It just so happens that almost every talk show host is a liberal and that's because it requires a level of intelligence" -
Deserves No Help in 40 Years
A SuperBowl fan:
"401 (k) emptied out to come here," says Eagles fan entering #SuperBowl52 stadium.
Let's hope it only paid for a hotel room.
Just Committing a Robbery; Why Would Anyone Shoot Him?
A couple years old, but a reminder of how grief makes people crazy. 11/3/16 WNCN:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) — It's been a difficult week for parents Temia Hairston and Michael Grace Sr. Their son, Michael Grace Jr., was shot and killed during an attempted robbery early Sunday morning.
Police said Grace Jr. and two other people tried to rob a Pizza Hut in the 3200 block of Freedom Drive. During the incident, an employee fired his own handgun and killed Grace Jr....
Hairston and Grace Sr. acknowledged that their son was breaking the law by robbing the business, and said they definitely don't condone what he did.
"It was an act of desperation, but I do not believe that Michael would have hurt anyone," said Hairston.
They said Grace Jr. had fallen on hard times and resorted to crime to provide for his own child. They also said their son used to work at the same Pizza Hut restaurant where the robbery happened. They maintain he never would have physically hurt anyone during the robbery.
What? "Give me the money or I will rap at you again."
There Should Be Laws About This!
1/31/18 WBAL:
A total of 38 grenades -- nine of them live -- were found along Bobtown Road in Hurlock, Maryland on Monday, according to the Maryland State Fire Marshal.
A citizen collecting recyclables discovered the grenades. Maryland State Police, Dorchester County Police and the Hurlock Volunteer Fire Department assisted on the scene. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also assisted in the investigation.
Safe procedures were conducted immediately at the scene and three live grenades were detonated. The other six were counter charged at a local landfill.
My Emotional Support Peacock
Birds of a feather may flock together, but United Airlines recently shot down one traveler's request to bring her emotional support peacock on a flight departing Newark Liberty International Airport.
Live and Let Fly reported earlier this week that even though the unidentified woman claimed that she had a second ticket for the peacock, the airline denied her request.
The video over there of her carrying this creature into the airport alone will show the problem. What about my emotional support Chilean condor? As a commenter complained:
Damn. Now I can't bring my therapy cobra on the next flight.
SJWs, Eh?
This Standards of Scrutiny Thing is a Game
Standards of scrutiny are a series of tests used by the courts to strike down laws they don't like and leave intact the laws they do like. Strict scrutiny requires compelling governmental interest and neither overinclusive or underinclusive in its application; intermediate scrutiny apparently exists to strike down some laws that distinguish based on sex but not others. Rational scrutiny says law makers are either crazy (or gays say that they are as in Romer v. Evans). People v,. Chairez (Ill. 2018) struck down a ban on firearms possession with 1000 feet of a park based on D.C. v. Heller (2008):
All of this suggests that elevated intermediate scrutiny should apply.
I like the result, but to quote Indiana Jones:
Labels: gun rights
An Utter Creep, But What a Showman
I am not sure that I ever saw the Michael Jackson Thriller video before. The use of Vincent Price for the disturbing rap in the middle of the song was profoundly inspired. I know younger people have no idea who Vincent Price was: a very skilled actor in a huge number of often badly made horror films of the 1950s and 1960s, including Last Man on Earth, the first movie of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend.
Remember How Effective California Gun Laws Are
2/1/18 Los Angeles Times:
School shooting that injured four students now believed unintentional, police say; 12-year-old girl is booked
In a morning news conference, Los Angeles School Police Chief Steve Zipperman said he did not know how a young person got access to a gun and brought it to campus, but warned gun owners to keep their weapons secure and away from children.
"Los Angeles has a law about the safe storage of weapons," L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer added. "Every responsible gun owner needs to take heed."
The irresponsible ones don't obey laws anyway.
Labels: gun control heaven
Another Reminder of Why Only Police Should Be Allowed Guns
From the ongoing Gun Trace Task Force trial. 2/2/18 Baltimore Sun:
A Baltimore County bail bondsman testified Thursday that he partnered for years with the sergeant of the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force to resell drugs the officer had taken off the street....
In one incident, police took a man's house keys, ran his name through databases to find his address, went into the home without a warrant and found drugs and a safe. The officers cracked open the safe, which had about $200,000 inside. They took $100,000 out, closed the safe back up, then filmed themselves pretending to open it for the first time. "Nobody touch anything," Jenkins can be heard saying on the video, which was played for jurors.
» After the man's arrest, Jenkins listened to the man's calls made from jail. He was discussing the officers taking his money, and said he wanted to hire a good lawyer to go after them. Ward said Jenkins determined the man's wife was arranging his legal matters, and wanted to cut her out. They wrote a note purporting to be from another woman, saying the man had gotten her pregnant, and left it in the man's door, Ward said....
Shawn Whiting testified that he had large stacks of cash, totaling $22,000, spread throughout his bedroom when Baltimore police came crashing in one morning in January 2014. When Whiting received a letter after his arrest outlining how much had been seized, it showed just $7,650.
» Detective Maurice Ward — a Gun Trace Task Force member who has pleaded guilty in the case — testified that Det. Marcus Taylor found the money in Whiting's closet, and asked Ward to "look out for him" and they split $3,000.
Drop Guns
2/2/18 Baltimore Sun:
Ward said the officers kept BB guns in their vehicles "in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shootout, so we could plant them." He did not say whether the officers ever planted a BB gun on anyone.
This is the Maryland Gun Trace Task Force.
So Glad Puerto Rico Has Such Strict Gun Control
2/1/18 AP:
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — One of Puerto Rico's deadliest months in recent years has closed, with 78 killings reported in January as the U.S. territory struggles with a surge in violent crime and growing discontent among thousands of police officers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Puerto_Rico
SWAT Team at Burger King
Gunshot, arrests, post video later
That Walther PPK Question I Asked
It does appear that the PPK does lock open on empty magazine. My PX-22 with the mags that came with it does not. However, a new magazine I bought after dropping the pistol and broke the fingerrest extension almost locks it open.
I do not see anything that the magazine follower can push up to lock it open on either frame or slide. .
Amazing! Santa Monica House I Grew Up In Still There
1541 Berkeley Street. The address seems to have been moved to the cottage behind the house we rented. The bedroom above the garage has been somewhat remodeled but still there. And the lemon tree I picked from for lemonade is still there.
It's a Disaster....Victory
1/31/18 Newsweek:
President Donald Trump just slapped a whopping 30 percent tariff on solar panel imports.
This policy is bad for our country, moving us further away from, not closer to, global leadership in renewable energy.
This tariff, which significantly ratchets up the price of renewable energy in America, is a clear threat to our economy and environment.
1/31/18 GreenTechMedia:
JinkoSolar announced this week that it is finalizing plans to build an advanced solar manufacturing facility in the U.S., as the company continues to monitor the implementation of new tariffs on imported solar cells and modules.
The company's board of directors authorized JinkoSolar to move forward with the construction process, as the Shanghai-based firm reported that it has signed a master solar module supply agreement with a U.S. counterparty to provide around 1.75 gigawatts of high-efficiency solar modules over three years.
JinkoSolar's management team recently told investors that it is targeting to build the U.S. facility for around $120 million, GTM learned. That amount is well below the total projected cost of a $410 million facility under consideration in Jacksonville, Florida -- dubbed "Project Volt." The Jacksonville City Council has already approved $24.2 million in incentives to attract the unknown foreign manufacturer involved in those negotiations.
The Progressive Autophagy
1/30/18 U.K. Independent:
White Americans who practice yoga are perpetuating the "continuation of white supremacy and colonialism", a Michigan State University professor has claimed.
Religious studies professor Shreena Gandhi argued yoga has "flourished" in the US from the "cultural void of white society, intimately mixed with white supremacy, capitalism, and globalisation".
She said the "misappropriation" of yoga did not constitute "life-threatening racism", but urged "white people who practice yoga" to consider the history of the practice in the US and its supposed links with "larger forces of white supremacy".
While not every yoga practitioner is left, the National Association of Trump Yoga Class Attenders requested a large phone booth for their next meeting.
Awesome YouTube Video
DEW Line 1957. An amazing engineering project. Think of Alaska as the easy part. A USAF film with the very outdated background music. I doubt that a project this vast would be allowed today, especially for such a vital purpose.
I knew someone many years ago who was assigned to a DEW Line site where the boredom led to an attempt to pick up a car, leading to a permanent back injury.
A hybrid vehicle!
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WOW! - Scotland's wind turbines have been secretly using fossil fuels (diesel) - Video


Naturalists and nature lovers can find pristine ecology and eco-tours on two very different Sea Islands.
Frequent BT contributor Bill Box of Sun City captured these scenes from journeys to Jekyll Island and Cumberland Island in Georgia.
Cumberland Island National Seashore and Jekyll Island National Park are about three hours away from Bluffton and offer a unique way to spend the day.
On Cumberland Island, the larger of the two, only 300 people are permitted on the island per day. No cars - only people. And the people will be outnumbered by the various forms of wildlife that are found in abundance.
A bird lover's paradise, travel guides boast of the more-then 300 bird species that roam the shores, live in the marshes and inhabit the dense forest.
Wild horses forage on the sea grasses. Deer, bobcats and armadillos wander the island and otters, loggerhead turtles and the familiar alligators cruise the waters.
Comb the beaches for sharks' teeth and sea shells, watch the tides roll in and back out and cast a line from the shore or hunt crabs in the marshes.
Since the people population is limited, much advanced planning is necessary.
What you need to know: Travel to Cumberland Island on the ferry from St. Mary's City. No pets, cars, kayaks or bikes. Fees are $20 for adults, $14 for children 12 and younger, $18 for seniors 65 and older. Park entrance fees are $4 and are good for seven days. Other rates are available.
A little closer to Bluffton than Cumberland is Jekyll Island, considerably more settled and developed among the Sea Islands.
There are eco-tours, 10 miles of beaches, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center where ailing creatures are taken for recuperation, a unique water park for summer indulgence, Driftwood Beach and the largest public golf resort in Georgia.
Visitors can drive onto the island, which is 7 miles long and a mile and a half wide.
There is much history to learn about the island, from its origins in the Pleistocene era through the Muskogian tribes of the Creek Nation who settled the island in the mid-1500s to the English settlement in the 1700s to modern day history.
The island is convenient to I-95, take Exit 29 and follow the signs east on U.S. 17 for about 10 miles. Turn right onto the Downing Musgrove Causeway (GA 520). Be sure to stop at the Jekyll Island Welcome Center, 4 miles on left. Cross onto Jekyll and through the greeting station (a parking fee is required).
Take Exit 3 from I-95 South. The exit ends at a stop light. Turn onto Highway 40 going East. Follow Highway 40 East into St. Marys. Once you reach the historic district, turn right at the stop sign onto St. Mary's Street. The NPS visitor Center is in the blue building and the Ferry dock are both located on the left.
Day and overnight parking is located behind the NPS administrative building, the Bachlot House located across the street from the St. Mary's Waterfront Park.


text:
Introduction to Orienteering
Foot Orienteering
MTB Orienteering
School Orienteering
Permanent Orienteering Courses
News (All)
Forums (All)
Compass Point Newsletter
Selection Notices
Mountain Bike Orienteering
NZ JWOC Team
ONZ Website Users
Forums – Recent Topics
Oceania 2021
OrienteeringNZ Competition Calendar
Results – Winsplits
Results – Routegadget
Events Listing FAQ
Event & Course Planning
Schools Orienteering Resources
Club Operation
Trophies, Awards, Life Members
About ONZ
About Orienteering NZ
Contact Orienteering NZ
Orienteering Clubs of NZ
Orienteering NZ Mappers
High Performance News #58 – October 2019
By Malcolm Ingham - Thu 31 Oct 2019 10:33pm
Events, High Performance, High Performance News, Oceania, World Cup
October has been a month with a hectic start and an even more hectic finish. Beginning with the second weekend of the Oceania Carnival – which saw some excellent individual performances , but Australia taking the Aspin-Key Trophy – and culminating with both the final round of the IOF World Cup and the Auckland Championships over Labour Weekend. The former of these saw two excellent performances from Tim Robertson and good results also for Tommy Hayes and Lizzie Ingham. Also, as it is October, the announcement of the National Squads for 2020 and a few other snippets from around the orienteering world.
Malcolm Ingham
(mandg.ingham@xtra.co.nz)
National Squads 2020
Selection for the National Squads is based on criteria laid down in the High Performance Plan.
At the Senior level there are three qualifying criteria: (1) in the last three years to have had three finishes in named international races which are within a certain percentage of a base time calculated from the top three finishers, (2) to have been selected for the World orienteering Championships in the previous two years, (3) in the last 2 years to have had 2 top 3 finishes in elite grade out of ONZ, Australian and Oceania championships. Those qualifying under criterion (1) are deemed Elite (E) members and are eligible to have entry fees for World cup races paid by ONZ. In line with the split in the World Orienteering Championships between forest and sprint disciplines, there are separate senior squads for forest and sprint.
At Under 23 level there are 2 selection criteria: (1) in the last 2 years to have been selected for the Junior World Orienteering Championships, (2) in the last 2 years to have 3 finishes in in M/W20E out of a combination of the top 3 in the ONZ Championships, the top 5 in the Australian Orienteering Championships and top 5 in the Oceania Orienteering Championships. Additionally, for any squad, athletes must be a minimum age of 18 at some point during the year following selection and have been active over the previous 12 months. Athletes younger than 18 qualify as Associate (A) members.
So for 2020…
Senior Sprint Squad
Men: Tommy Hayes (E), Cameron de L'isle, Matt Ogden, Tim Robertson (E), Tony Scott
Women: Renee Beveridge, Lizzie Ingham (E), Laura Robertson (E), Imogene Scott
Senior Forest Squad
Men: Gene Beveridge, Nick Hann, Tommy Hayes, Cameron de L'Isle, Matt Ogden, Tim Robertson (E), Toby Scott, Nick Smith
Women: Renee Beveridge, Lizzie Ingham (E), Greta Knarston, Lara Molloy, Kate Morrison, Laura Robertson, Imogene Scott
Under 23 Squad
Men: Max Griffiths, Stephen Harding, Callum Hill, Joseph Lynch, Daniel Monckton, Kurtis Shuker, Will Tidswell
Women: Tessa Burns, Marina Comeskey, Katie Cory-Wright, Meghan Drew, Marisol Hunter, Kaia Joergensen (A), Tegan Knightbridge, Georgia Skelton, Briana Steven, Jenna Tidswell
Oceania Carnival Part 2
The second weekend of the Oceania Carnival in Australia was centred in the rocks of Beechworth, 3 hours north of Melbourne. Saturday saw the Oceania Long Distance Championships on Kangaroo Crossing – one of the legendary granite maps, first used as a training map for the World Championships was back in 1985. The tough rocky terrain, including very long legs on nearly all courses, was made even harder by the warm temperatures. With NZL well behind in the Pinestars-Bushrangers Test Match some strong performances were required by the Kiwis and Katie Cory-Wright and Lizzie Ingham duly delivered with excellent wins in W20E and W21E. Katie's winning margin was over 5 minutes and she was backed up by Tessa Burns in 4th place and Briana Steven in 6th, although Tessa was not part of the Pinestars team for this race. Lizzie's winning margin was even larger – a massive 9 minutes over second placed Natasha Key. For the men, Gene Beveridge was the stand out in M21E with a strong run to finish 2nd behind Brodie Nankervis in a race in which only the top 6 men got under two hours. Will Tidswell was also a top performer finishing 4th in M20E, 9 minutes off the pace but with a massive 15 minute gap behind him.
M20E: 1. Patrick Miller (AUS) 1:29:25, 2. Alastair George (AUS) 1:35:39, 3. Angus Haines (AUS) 1:37:58, 4. Will Tidswell (NZL) 1:38:57, 5. Ronan Lee (NZL) 1:53:48, 6. Duncan Currie (NSW) 1:56:05.
W20E: 1. Katie Cory-Wright (NZL) 1:03:01, 2. Zoe Melhuish (AUS) 1:08:27, 3. Mikayla Cooper (AUS) 1:09:41, 4. Tessa Burns (HB) 1:11:54, 5. Caitlin Young (AUS) 1:13:26, 6. Briana Steven (NZL) 1:15:05.
M21E: 1. Brodie Nankervis (AUS) 1:46:06, 2. Gene Beveridge (NZL) 1:48:46, 3. Mat Crane (ACT) 1:49:20, 4. Aston Key (AUS) 1:51:38, 5. William Gardner (GBR) 1:52:11, 6. Peter Hodkinson (VIC) 1:53:44.
W21E: 1. Lizzie Ingham (NZL) 1:31:41, 2. Natasha Key (AUS) 1:40:42, 3. Grace Crane (ACT) 1:41:29, 4. Krystal Neumann (AUS) 1:47:37, 5. Vanessa Round (SA) 1:49:04, 6. Aislinn Prendergast (AUS) 1:51:15.
Lizzie takes the time in the middle distance finish chute to pause and hug Gillian
Sunday's Oceania Middle Distance saw a very varied terrain with courses moving from forest to open heath/bare rock, back into forest, all with the ubiquitous granite cliffs and boulders. In M20E three Kiwis made the top 6 with Scott Smith taking 3rd place a little over 2 minutes behind winner Alastair George, and backed up by Oliver Egan and Will Tidswell. For the Junior Women Marina Comeskey came to the fore finishing 5th in the technical terrain. In the senior elite grades it was not a good day for NZL in M21E with no Pinestar making the top 6, Gene Beveridge again being the best, in 7th place. In the women, however, Lizzie produced another dominating performance to win by nearly a full 5 minutes, or, as commentator Warren Key put it, a minute per kilometres over second place, even having time in the finish chute to stop and hug her mother! Behind Lizzie, Lara Molloy had her best yet elite result finishing in 4th place.
M20E: 1. Alastair George 33:31, 2. Patrick Miller 35:27, 3. Scott Smith (NZL) 35:35, 4. Angus Haines 35:40, 5. Oliver Egan (NZL) 36:58, 6. Will Tidswell 37:51.
W20E: 1. Zoe Melhuish 36:07, 2. Caitlin Young 36:47, 3. Tara Melhuish 36:58, 4. Caroline Pigerre (QU) 38:31, 5. Marina Comeskey (NZL) 38:48, 6. Katie Cory-Wright 39:31,
M21E: 1. Peter Hodkinson 37:51, 2. Aston Key 38:59, 3. William Gardner 40:00, 4. Matt Crane 40:03, 5. Simon Uppill (SA) 40:10, 6. Matt Doyle 41:03.
W21E: 1. Lizzie Ingham 35:09, 2. Bridget Anderson (AUS) 39:55, 3. Belinda Lawford (AUS) 40:43, 4. Lara Molloy (NZL) 41:29, 5. Natasha Key 41;45, 6. Vanessa Round 42:00.
Taken over both the Queen's Birthday leg in New Zealand and the Oceania Carnival, the final Test Match result was dramatically close. Aided by several Australian dnfs and mps over the last two days, although the Carnival leg result was AUS 230.4 NZL 159.1, in the overall result the Australians came out on top by only 1.3 points (395.7 – 394.4)! The Aussies therefore retained the Aspin-Key Trophy which they took off NZL at last year's Australian championships. Hostilities will be rejoined next Queen's Birthday back in Auckland.
Route choice galore on 11-12 in the Oceania Long Distance for M21E
As mentioned above, one interesting feature of the long distance courses was the really long, route choice testing, legs. In M21E the classic example of this was 11-12 which went right across the map from west to east, a straight line distance of well over 2 km. Given the general lack of such legs in New Zealand terrain, route choice is often something that Kiwis struggle with when faced with such legs in international competition. Some of the route choices on the leg in question are shown in the image. The fastest split came from Will Gardner (21:46) who in fact took a relatively direct route, although initially heading NE to avoid the sharp climb and rocky terrain out of control 11. Although sticking largely to the faster forest he was still faced with two rock bands to pass through. Aston Key took a similar, but slightly more northerly, route which was both longer and left him with an approach through lower visibility forest. His time of 23:54 was the third fastest on the leg, albeit 2 minutes slower than Will. Second fastest split actually came from Matt Dent who took a much, much longer route which essentially followed the tracks around the northern edge of the map before striking due south through white forest past the small lake. Despite the extra distance he was 40 seconds faster (23:16) than Aston, but still a minute and half behind Will. Gene Beveridge, who finished second, took much the same route as Matt but was over 90 seconds slower. Race winner Brodie Nankervis was one who opted for the equally long southern route which took runners back through the start but then required a much longer approach through the forest. Brodie's time of 25:38 was only 8th fastest on the leg.
24 to 25 on the M21E course
Another interesting leg was later in the same course from 24 to 25. The direct line here passed over a major area of rock. Keeping to the left meant a major climb, while heading right kept the runner in largely white forest. As can be seen from the live tracking image (with extended tails) there was again a spread of routes. It was here that Gene moved from 4th to his finishing position of 2nd when he took the northern route and had the fastest split of 9:19. The orange line disappearing of the bottom of the line is the tail from race winner Brodie who took only 8 seconds longer than Gene on a more direct approach. However, Aston, taking the high route to take advantage of the tracks, made an error towards the end that left him 3 and a half minutes slower than Gene.
The message? Really the best thing to take from this is probably that, within limits, the correct route choice is a very personal thing. A longer, faster running route may be beneficial for the faster runners, but those with the climbing strength may prefer something more direct. The most common mistake, however, is probably not looking wide enough to encompass all the options. Overall the most important thing is to play to one's strengths, both physical and navigational, and whatever the choice executing it cleanly.
World Cup Round 4 – Guangdong, China
For the final round of the 2019 World Cup, for the first time the world's top orienteers descended en-masse on China for a middle distance, a sprint relay and an individual sprint. New Zealand were represented by a team of six – Devon Beckman, Tommy Hayes, Tim Robertson, Lizzie Ingham, Laura Robertson and Alice Tilley. Although Tim and Laura had previously raced in China as part of the Park World Tour, for the others it was a trip into the unknown, especially so for Alice for whom this was the first appearance at this level.
Team NZL doing a dragon dance at the opening ceremony
The middle distance, held in one of China's leading national parks presented little in the way of white forest, but a myriad of tracks through all shades of green, steep contour detail, and a maze of earthbanks, small open areas, lakes/ponds, and even some villages. Route choice to minimize both distance and climb, and avoid the densest vegetation, was a premium and largely involved picking the best option of the many tracks. The courses were also on the long side for a middle distance with winning times over the 40 minute mark rather than the more standard 35.
The women's race rapidly became a battle between the last two starters – Tove Alexandersson of Sweden setting off 2 minutes behind Russia's Natalia Gemperle. When Natalia caught the Swiss Sabine Hauswirth it looked as if, running together, the pair might pull away from Tove, but as Sabine tired towards the end, Natalia was left alone for the final few controls and was unable to match the fast finish of Tove. Behind these two places 3 to 7 were all filled by Swiss! Of the NZL team Lizzie was by far the best finisher coming in a creditable 41st, 12 minutes off the pace, but disappointed in herself by dropping 3 minutes when not seeing the flag at control 7 at dropping into a parallel feature. Both Laura and Alice were out for excess of the hour, although in the context of a World Cup race, with much stronger depth of field than WOC, Laura's 58th place was also an excellent result.
Women: 1. Tove Alexandersson (SWE) 41:33, 2. Natalia Gemperle (RUS) 42:03, 3. Julia Jakob (SUI) 42:28, 4. Simone Aebersold (SUI) 44:36, 5. Sarina Jenzer (SUI) 44:55, 6. Elena Roos (SUI) 44:59, 41. Lizzie Ingham (NZL) 53:58, 58. Laura Robertson (NZL) 1:01:50, 75. Alice Tilley (NZL) 1:09:03.
Men's middle distance – World Cup 4
Pride of place in team NZL however, went to Tim who finished in an excellent 27th place after holding a top 20 place through the first three-quarters of the course. Both Tommy and Devon had days to forget, although Tommy was well placed until dropping a lot of time between controls 7 and 10. At the front, Gustav Bergman made it a double for Sweden, to go with Tove's victory, with a winning margin of over a minute from Joey Hadorn of Switzerland. Lucas Basset of France took bronze, but again, overall, the Swiss dominated with 4 in the top 10 and all 6 in the top 15. Official results for the men were held up for over 24 hours, however, as the jury ruled on a protest that many competitors had passed across an out of bounds (olive green area). Ultimately there were no disqualifications as the jury ruled that the mapping was not clear enough for these to be distinguished at race pace.
Men: 1. Gustav Bergman (SWE) 40:12, 2. Joey Hadorn (SUI) 41:25, 3. Lucas Basset (FRA) 41:53, 4. Andreas Kyburz (SUI) 42:10, 5. Daniel Hubmann (SUI) 42:17, 6. Kasper Fosser (NOR) 42:26, 27. Tim Robertson (NZL) 46:17, 93. Tommy Hayes (NZL) 1:01:59, 95. Devon Beckman (NZL) 1:02:27.
The sprint relay was a case of what might have been for NZL. Lizzie, on leg 1, got the team off to a good start only just over a minute down on Sweden 1 and Switzerland 1 at the front. A rampaging second leg from Tim, who ran the third fastest time on the leg, had New Zealand up to 13th overall, but in terms of the top team from any country, which is what counts ultimately, in 6th place. Tommy then appeared to improve this to 12th (5th) on leg three. Although Laura dropped some places on the last leg the real problem was that Tommy failed to register the final control leading to the Kiwis being disqualified from a race in which the finish position would have equalled their best yet in a sprint relay – ahead, for example, of Russia. Running in a composite team with a Ukranian and a Czech, Devon and Alice came in 32nd overall.
1. Switzerland 55:14, 2. Sweden 55:51, 3. Norway 55:59, 4. Finland 56:16, 5. Czech Republic 56:35, 6. Poland 57;00, 32. Mixed UKR/CZE/NZL 1:04:44 (Devon Beckman 16:41, Alice Tilley 18:41), New Zealand mp (Lizzie Ingham 14:30, Tim Robertson 13:52, Tommy Hayes mp (14:31), Laura Robertson 15:54).
Lizzie sets off on the sprint relay first leg
World Cup sprint relay – women's courses in purple, men's in red
The relay was held in what was described as Nanhai Movie and TV town and featured some complex navigation both in terms of picking route choice and in actual control location. Particularly problematic seemed to be the control in the walled courtyard (8 for the women, 10 for the men) where several athletes tried to access the control through the underpass (partly obliterated in the image by the lines) which led only to a blank wall of the internal building.
After a day rest the individual sprint on Tuesday took place in a residential area consisting a highly complex myriad of streets and alleys interspersed with uncrossable fences and walls and broken by areas of thick vegetation and water. Tim, Tommy and Lizzie all had good runs, Tim finishing just outside the top 10 in 13th place, Tommy in 31st and Lizzie in 26th equal. Both Tommy and Lizzie, after good starts, were disappointed to lose time in the final third of the course where two complex long legs presented multiple route choices. It was on the first of these legs, 14-15 for the women, that Laura also had problems missing a turning in the complexity of streets and dropping close to a minute. However it was 15-16 for the women (17-18 for the men) where Tim and Lizzie took vastly differing routes and both lost time on those (including Tommy) who went straighter and found the way through a bit of green forest. Taking the long route to the north Tim dropped 14 seconds on the fastest split – enough to have put him on the top 6 podium. Lizzie fared even worse, taking the more direct route to begin with but then spurning the route through forest/bush to wind through the streets, a choice that cost a massive 41 seconds on the fastest split, a saving that would have had her just outside the top 10.
Tim (red) takes the long N route on his 17-18, Lizzie (blue) takes the path through the light green and then winds through the narrow streets, Tommy (green) starts off the same but then cuts the corner down the earthbanks and through the bush
Victory in the men went to Yannick Michiels, his second of the World Cup season, ahead of Frenchman Maxime Rauturier. For the first time at this level China got on the men's podium with Li Zhuoye taking bronze ahead of the other fancied runners, including the Swiss who nevertheless has 7 in the top 15. Things were even better for the hosts in the women's race where Shuangyan Hao, who finished 11th in the middle distance three days earlier and was 10th in the WOC sprint in 2009, took the win. World Cup overall winner Tove Alexandersson had, for her, a disastrous day finishing 8th.After a day rest the individual sprint on Tuesday took place in a residential area consisting of a highly complex myriad of streets and alleys interspersed with uncrossable fences and walls and broken by areas of thick vegetation and water. Tim, Tommy and Lizzie all had good runs, Tim finishing just outside the top 10 in 13th place, Tommy in 31st and Lizzie in 26th equal. Both Tommy and Lizzie, after good starts, were disappointed to lose time in the final third of the course where two complex long legs presented multiple route choices. It was on the first of these legs, 14-15 for the women, that Laura also had problems missing a turning in the complexity of streets and dropping close to a minute. However it was 15-16 for the women (17-18 for the men) where Tim and Lizzie took vastly differing routes and both lost time on those (including Tommy) who went straighter and found the way through a bit of green forest. Taking the long route to the north Tim dropped 14 seconds on the fastest split – enough to have put him on the top 6 podium. Lizzie fared even worse, taking the more direct route to begin with but then spurning the route through forest/bush to wind through the streets, a choice that cost a massive 41 seconds on the fastest split, a saving that would have had her just outside the top 10.
Men: 1. Yannick Michiels (BEL) 15:18, 2. Maxime Rauturier (FRA) 15:20, 3. Li Zhuoye (CHN) 15:23, 4. Gaute Hallan Steiwer (NOR) 15:31, 5. Matthias Kyburz (SUI) 15:43, 6. Jonas Egger (SUI) 15:44, 13. Tim Robertson (NZL) 15:56, 31. Tommy Hayes (NZL) 16:26, 102. Devon Beckman (NZL) 21:43.
Women: 1. Shuangyan Hao (CHN) 13:18, 2. Simona Aebersold (SUI) 13:28, 3. Sara Hagstrom (SWE) 13:34, 4. Julia Jakob (SUI) 13:47, 5. Tereza Janosikova (CZE) 13:49, 6. Sarina Jenzer (SUI) 13:57, 26=. Lizzie Ingham (NZL) 15:15, 69. Laura Robertson (NZL) 17:09, 76. Alice Tilley (NZL) 18:04.
The 2019 World Cup titles for men and women went, respectively, to the Swedish pair of Gustav Bergman and Tove Alexandersson. Lizzie was the only Kiwi women to score points finishing in 55th place, while in the men Tim was 43rd, Toby Scott 84th and Tommy 85th.
Auckland Championships
Somewhat more low key than in China, the Auckland Championships were also held over Labour Weekend. Fields were relatively small, particularly, with exam season approaching, in the junior elite grades, and largely dominated by locals. Proceedings started with a middle distance in the Muriwai Regional Park part of Woodhill before moving onto the ultra-steep Mushroom Road East, and finishing with a fast sprint around Wyniard Quarter on the Auckland Waterfront.
Men's elite was dominated by Matt Ogden and Gene Beveridge, while W21E saw a different winner on each of the three days. In W20 Kaia Joergensen was the only one of the elite/junior elites to win on all three days.
M21E: 1. Matt Ogden (NW) 32:01, 2. Simon Jager (AK) 39:22, 3. Will Tidswell 39:23.
W21E: 1. Sonia Hollands (BP) 40:21, 2. Renee Beveridge (NW) 42:06, 3. Jula Macmillan (NW) 46:07.
M20: 1. Daniel Monckton (NW) 35:53, 2. Liam Stolberger (NW)42:28, 3. Liam Thompson (AK) 53;35.
W20: 1. Kaia Joergensen (PP) 35:00, 2. Georgia Skelton (CM) 38:49, 3. Anna Cory-Wright (AK) 41:45.
M21E: 1. Gene Beveridge (NW) 1:28:45, 2. Matt Ogden 1:29:40, 3. Scott Macdonald (HB) 1:36:28.
W21E: 1. Renee Beveridge 1:31:52, 2. Lara Molloy (WN) 1:35:30, 3. Sonia Hollands 1:51:06.
M20: 1. Daniel Monckton 1:32:28, 2. Liam Stolberger 1:40:19, 3. Scott Carswell (NW) 2:20:06.
W20: 1. Kaia Joergensen 1:21:01, 2. Meghan Drew (AK) 1:24:42, 3. Georgia Skelton 1:25:13.
M21E: 1. Matt Ogden 16:26, 2. Gene Beveridge 16:34, 3. Cameron de L'Isle (NW) 16:41.
W21E; 1. Penelope Salmon (NW) 15:42, 2. Renee Beveridge 16:37, 3. Jula Macmillan 16:52.
M20: 1. Liam Stolberger 17:20, 2. Daniel Monckton 17:52, 3. Liam Thompson 19:50.
W20: 1. Kaia Joergensen 16:22, 2. Georgia Skelton 17:04, 3. Meghan Drew 18:03.
Lonely Mountain Sprints – KO Sprint WOC Trial
WOC2020 is the first sprint only WOC and will feature, in addition to a standard individual sprint and a sprint relay, a knock-out sprint. New Zealand will be allowed 3 men and 3 women in each of the individual and KO sprint as well as 1 sprint relay team. There will be 4 sprint trials to help select the NZL team. Two of these will be in the new knock-out format, the first being at the Lonely Mountain Sprints on Saturday 25 January. Entries for this close on 7 January and formation and entry details are at https://lonelymountainsprints.weebly.com/.
The Knock-Sprint will follow the standard IOF format. There will be a qualification race in the morning with a winning time of approximately 10 minutes. In each of the men's and women's classes the top 36 in this race will qualify for the knock-out rounds. (Note: this number may be reduced depending on the final size of the field.) The qualification race will have a one minute start interval. The subsequent knock-out rounds will be mass starts. The 36 qualifiers will be split into 6 quarter-final heats of 6 athletes each. The top 3 in each quarter final will qualify for the semi-finals. The 18 semi-finalists will be divided into 3 semi-finals of 6 athletes, with the top 2 in each semi-final going through to a single final. All the knock-out rounds, including the final, will have winning times of approximately 8 minutes. Athletes who do not qualify for the knock-out stages will be entered automatically in the afternoon public race. This will also be available, if desired, for those knocked out at either the quarter or semi-final stage.
In the knock-out rounds the various methods of splitting the field as recommended by IOF will be used. These include butterfly loops, phi-loops and map choice. In the latter version, pre-start, athletes will be given 20 seconds to choose which of 3 possible variations in the course they wish to run. No athlete will know which option has been chosen by any other athlete.
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Researchers have identified 2,500 new genes that may be implicated in autism, using a machine learning technique that analyzed the entire human genome looking for genes with the correct characteristics.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, vastly expand the number of autism candidate genes, and will help autism researchers pinpoint and characterize the genes that underlie the disease.
Until now, isolating the genes that cause autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been like finding needles in a haystack. Between 400 and 1,000 genes are thought to cause the disorder, but the 65 that are currently known have taken decades to find.
"There's a huge part of the molecular genetic basis that's still unknown," says Olga Troyanskaya (Princeton University), a senior fellow in the Genetic Networks program and senior author of the paper.
To identify these new genes, her team used information about 594 previously known ASD genes to teach a computer system what a typical ASD gene looked like.
The computer system they used combined software that had already been developed in the machine-learning community with a functional map of the brain generated from thousands of genomics datasets. It identified the top characteristics that ASD genes shared.
Using this blueprint of the typical ASD gene, the software system then analyzed the entire human genome. It flagged every gene that fit the ASD-gene profile — 2,500 of the most likely candidates.
To test whether their predictions were accurate, the team checked their newfound genes against a limited number of genes found in a study of 2,517 autism patients. Several genes they had shortlisted had indeed been identified in real autism patients.
The findings are a leap forward for autism research. Using this gene shortlist, researchers can now zero in much faster on the genes that cause the disease.
However, once autism researchers have identified a gene to study, they still need to find out what it does.
To provide this context, the researchers created a functional map that clusters the candidate genes into nine major functional categories, including synaptic transmission, sensory perception and circadian rhythm.
Some of these are related to known characteristics of the disease, such as difficulties with learning and social communication and repetitive patterns of behaviour.
The researchers also mapped where and when the ASD genes were active, and found that the disease may start early in fetal development, affecting brain structures including the cerebellum and the striatum.
Understanding how the role of ASD genes — across the brain and throughout development — will help researchers find better ways to diagnose and treat ASD, says Troyanskaya.