By SERIAL NUMBER AND PATENT!

HOLY COW THERE'S DEEP LORE REGARDING FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS?! O.O

Do you have a favorite fact? Or like, one particular thing about the subject that really surprised you? Do you have a fire alarm system in mind as "the best" or "worst" in terms of performance and detection? :D

Actually, I would like that. As soon as I learned about common home fire alarms using radioisotopes to create a gap in an electric circuit that can be closed by ionized smoke particles, I was fascinated. I know there are some fancy ones that use optics instead so the can detect particles of any kind. The heat sensitive ones seem cool for cooking areas so there are fewer false alarms. I imagine by now there are ones thats use FLIR/thermal cameras.

All that is just detection. Even the communication is really cool. The loud beeping sound is simple but effective. I like the ones that release a spicy mist to wake deaf people. Flashing lights go without saying. Then there's networked alarms. Do they go straight to the Fire Department or are they like security systems that get filtered by a third party first?

The auto-response features (if that's what they're called) like fire sprinklers are interesting also. I read that they typically release dirty water because it's been sitting in the pipes for so long. Sure, dirty water is hardly an issue during a fire. It could be raw sewage and still be better than nothing. Still, I wonder why they're not on a loop integrated with the rest of the fresh water system. The advanced response systems like halon are kinda scary. Probably not something I'll see in my lifetime. I'm sure it's better than the alternative, though. The foam for airplane hangers is pretty neat. Wouldn't want to be in there, though.

I wonder what the cutting edge stuff is now.

we're waiting!

No, but one friend of mine absolutely does.

(And, yes, she's autistic.)

AI least six, I'm positive of that.

At least twelve

I wanna hear about maglev trains in evacuated tunnels. I know it's a fantasy because of the costs, but I like to imagine it could be real.

Maglev in general is cool, too. At least they're real. They're still heavily limited by costs, though.

I'll absolutely listen to anything about high-speed rail in general.

That failing, I'm good with standard-gauge , passenger rail, too.

Ask me about my world-spanning train network in Satisfactory!

Oooh did you use the bulk loader and express smelter mods?

I'm listening.

"Yes Janine. We all pee everyday. But can you understand the difference between peeing everyday and peeing so often each day that it disrupts other parts of your daily life?"

I swear I'm gonna use this next time I hear "everyone is a bit autistic".

This makes me lol because I work in an industry where people are extremely "not normal".

There are a handful of people who I would believe fit into the neurotypical category. But it's largely blue collar trades people who are at the top of their field so people are pretty accepting of quirks. It would be fascinating to study how under diagnosis of men in the trades compares to under diagnosis of "shy" women and girls.

Some example:

• people who would say they don't do math or stats but who have hockey draft spreadsheets that they fill out while watching live draft coverage.
• the people who I encounter in tunnels way after hours who are, like me, just trying to answer a question that's been bugging them and can't stop until they figure it out.
• the person who told me he was going to go home and build a model of the mixing system I described (was describing an existing system that is being operated incorrectly and how it should look) so that he could better understand it
• all the people who have the flat affect come out when they are dumping data (this warms my heart lol)

I'm on the fence about disclosing at work because if I get a response like that I will lose my mind and don't trust myself not to blurt out "half of y'all are autistic but aren't ready to hear that".

(That would be incredibly inappropriate for so many reasons)

0 is on the number line.

This was super helpful to help me understand IPv6

I spent my entire last therapy session talking about the history the rise of the IBM PC clone market and how Microsoft's contract with IBM made it possible lol

That series of analogies is absolute garbage and you know it.

The problem I have is that there is a loss of specificity, not that Asperger's and autism are fundamentally different. Autism used to be defined as the cluster of autism-like symptoms paired with a developmental problem with language. Asperger's was very similar, except that the impairment was with social interaction and non-verbal communication rather than linguistic aspects. Nowadays, while there is a lot of overlap, the difference is more like car vs truck rather than car vs SUV. You can classify a truck as a type of car, but you can't classify a car as a type of truck.

It's frustrating and anecdotally I'm 10+ years in my journey parenting autistic children and the consensus with the professionals is that the new descriptors are a continued challenge. Will it change with time? Who knows? All I can do is advocate for those who get left out and/or left on the wrong side of these memes because like my younger son they cannot advocate for themselves.

Also, the last person I saw who brought up this argument about how functional they are and how it was unfair to people who are less functional was in the same comment also simultaneously talking about how they’re depressed or suicidal from extreme loneliness and strongly wished to be cured of their autism.

Yeah, not me. Quite happy with who I am, wouldn't change it. I get a pretty useful, different, point of view which I wouldn't give up, but I've had time to acclimate.

I also doubt how useful language tricks like 'terminology to refer to lots of those traits commonly associated with autism. Nonverbal, hypersensitive, speech-processing disorder, and more' are to deal with those problems.

Still, I agree it's a cluster and a hard problem to differentiate (except for profound things like nonverbal).

Nice perspective, that actually helps me with my moral conundrum FWIW, thanks. Still wonder if we're not short changing the truly profoundly affected, but it's great to see the progress you and the structures around you have made in helping those like me (us?).

It brings to mind something I wish I had access to earlier, the TV show 'Lie To Me' which presents the possibility of using learning (perhaps targeted hyper fixation) to compensate for lack of instinctive social understanding. The show itself mostly dealt in extremes for dramatic effect, but it lead me to useful materials and techniques that have been helpful, if somewhat exhausting, in life. Don't know if it's likely to be a win in general, but it might be useful for certain cases (like me).

My neice is non-verbal. I'm on "the spectrum". It's not the same. Plenty of overlaps, but it's not the same. I appreciate awareness for the topic at all, but also hope it doesn't detract from treating the most serious symptoms

My sympathy and respect for your situation, and your son's.

Right?, it's not at all the same thing. Non-verbal and academically good with bad socialization are totally different in needs. There is a line through both conditions, and it could be useful in helping both, but making it seem like it's just a smeared out spectrum from bad to good does no-one any favors.