Autism

Although I have very little experience with the subject, I am learning some world shattering lessons. Such as...

1. People with autism appear to be in their own littl world, but in fact, the see, hear and compreheand MUCH more than we think we do.

2. People with autism, in general, want to communicate, but they can't. They have very intelligent thoughs, but because the body and the mind frequently will not cooperate.

3. People with autism get angry and frustrated that they can't communicate very well with other people, but there's always a way to help them interact with people.

So, don't be a prick when you meet a person with autism. They know when people are scared or freaked out by them and THEY HATE IT! What should you do? Introduce yourself in your normal voice and talk to them just like you'd do with anyone else. You need to spend time with people that have autism. The are far from irritating, They are ENGAGING people who want so badly to tell you about their life and what you can do to make them comfortable around you. Unforunately, many can't do that

Two personal Murk stories.

As a child, a teenager, and a college kid, I feared people with mental and physical disabilities. Three people changed that, my good friend Bill Pezzano, my old friend Shaun, and my sister in law (technicall, a sister of Malach's wife, Superstar.

Bill is has cerebral palsy. He is a Shihan and he tearches advance black belt student... WHILE ON HIS FREAING CRUTCHES!!! And I can tell you I am not ashamed to say he could pound me to a bloody bag of skin, broken bones and torn flesh. He wouldn't, but he most definitely could.

Shaun was blind. Shauw was an excellent guitar plaver. I could go on about how amazingly funny, kind and also self confident he is. One anecdote I remember was I saw him walking towards the bench I was sitting on. I was writing some notes for a class or a novel, and so I did not greet him. He sat down clamly and waited. Finally, I felt a bit guilty and said hello. Then he said, "I thought that was you!" He told me it was quite common that people didn't say hi to him when he was around. He told me that my breathing is easy to hear and locate.

Julie is autistic. She's my brother's wife's sister, if that makes any sense. She plays the piano very well and she is a painter. When I look at her paintings, I marvel at the detail and nuance she can create. Malach, my brother, has a wonderful gallery of her stuff on his website. I'm never disappointed when I go there.

Why the strange sentimental rant? I don't know. Normally I'd rather joke around and write profane jokes, but today, I thought of my three friend and I felt I needed to put how I felt about them in writing.

Florida

Plastic. It's one word that comes to mind when I think of this place. Granted, we're just south of Orlando, and Orlando is made of plastic. Nothing here looks real or solid. Everything looks pre-fab and cheaply made. Houses built two years ago already losing paint just from rainfall.

For those of you keeping score at home, yes, I am enjoying my vacation immensly. It is warm, quiet and very very far away from the Palatial Mansion, with its roof leaks and wet, uderground dungeons with failing sump pumps.

But, Florida is Hell. It's a land of tourists and stuff that tourists dig. I rarely ever go tourist when I go places. I think Europe might set me all askew and touristy. New York sometimes did. Los Angeles did not. But Orlando? Awwww hell no. The only touristy things I do here I do when forced to one of the parks.

This year, Animal Kingdom. I'd fooled myself into thinking it might be a wildlife resevre with a Disney flavour. Instead it was a Disney Park that disguised itself as an Eco-Friendly theme park based on something someone had seen in National Goegraphic.

According to Animak Kingdom, wildlife is in Afrca, Asia, Dinolands, Camp Mickey/Mini, Rafiki's Planet Watch and Discovery (tm) Island. The largest tree is a huge plastic monstrosity with 'animals' carved into it.

1. One should not encourage children to carve up trees.
2. It's plastic.
3. Diesel trucks, vans, trains, rides etc buzz all around it.

Pros: I saw some animals I would never have seen.

Cons: The animals were owned by Disney.

Now, let's not exlude the greater Orlando area. The whole place is slap-a-fresh-coat-of-paint-on fake. Even the television news. People skipped work to watch the shuttle land in high def.

Look. It's a vacation and vacations are wonderful and the weather and the pool and the food are all great, but I'm sorry... Orlando is one of the most insincere places on the planet.

And to all of you not on vacation right now...

I'm completely full of shit. This is awesome! Sucks to be you!!!! I'm in Orlando, mutha-fucka!

Orlando sucks but sure beats wherever you are!

Let's Go To Florida

Mrs. Dr. Murk decided that we should go to Florida. Now.

So, I'm fueling up the jet.

She says I'm going away and I can't bring my supernotebook computer.

I'll miss you all.

Jesus Drank the Bug Juice

Doctor Murk's Game Review

I'll play any game once. Video games. Backyard sports. Board games. RPGs. Online games. Card games. Some people relegate the world of gaming into the realm of Game Con/ Star Trek nerdophilia. Take a deeper think for a moment. My parents and grandparents played card games. Many families play horseshoes or such. It's the same idea. It's interactive entertainment.

With this in mind, I bring you a review of a game that is close to my heart. City of Heroes. http://www.cityofheroes.com/ (sorry, blogger is screwing with my autolink feature).

The premise? Simple. Make a superheroe and kick ass. The twist? Thousands of looks, styles and power combinations and thousands of players from around the world. Is there a learning curve? Heck yes, is you want to be at the top of the hero pile. If you want plain old fun, there's not much to it. Point and click. It's a bit graphics intensive, but with its release date 4 years ago, most computers can handle it.

There are 11 servers to play on and you can have 8 to 10 characters per server. Of course, as you gain experience, you level up and get more powerful. You can team, join a supergroup, or make your own. The online forums are spectacular and helpful. The people tend to be more mature than the typical mmorpg. The enemies are fierce and yes, you can play a villain.

The chat system is a bit counterintuitive unless you're familiar with chat systems, and it IS hard to chat while slapping bad guys or breaking down heroes. There's optional PVP content (player versus player) in zones and in the weird arena system. The optional story arcs are so compelling as to be mandatory. There's a loot system and a market just as cut throat as Wall Street. Characters can have multiple costumes, can change names (for a price) and even switch servers if they find a group they like on another server.

You want to roleplay? They have an unofficial roleplay server. They even have a server for drunks.

You can download the entire game in an hour with high speed internet and the price is reasonable. There is a monthly fee, but hell, life comes with its own monthly fees as it is. Small price to pay to save an imaginary world that's as well populated as the one you go to work in.

Caveat: They are VERY strict about copywrite violation and trademark stuff, so no Marvel or DC knockoffs. But, if you want to make a short dude with claws and regeneration, you can do it. Just don't give him that signature outfit and a name like Wolferini. I've got a Superman knockoff, but he's dressed in his PJs.

Guns, Ninjas, Weapon Customization, Blasting, Magic, Mutants and more. Wanne be a drugged up cyborg? You got it. A ballerina who likes to leave her mark? Yours. Have some. Want to be a frustrated plumber who beats people with a wrench? Go ahead.

This is one of the few games I've played where the premium is on customization and traditional roles like healer, tank, scrapper, nuke etc get very blurred.

Buy it. Play it. Love it.

You Can't Call Me a Sore Loser

Superbowl XLII Postmortem:

Victim is a large, multibillion dollar franchise, well built, late forties, early fifties. Victim sustained blunt force trauma to the ego. Lactic acid buildup in the muscle tissue indicates serious fatigue. A vertical 40 yard gash across the defensive posterior, possibly from a forcibly thrown object. Wrongful death. This one is definitely a homicide.

Now, I love my home teams, but when someone throws a stiff whooping on them, I'll be the first to say it not only happened, but deservedly so. No excuse for losing. The Giants beat the Patriots up all game and in the final two minutes, got off the canvas from a gut punch and threw the knockout blow.

Was there one play in particular that was just sheer utter bullshit, no freaking way and all that? Yup. Guess what? When you make that play, that's called kicking ass. The Giants did just that. They're n arrogant, unlikable team of malcontents and I hope America's happy now, because after three months, you won't be. You'll be so sick of them. The'll be celebrating, making videos and rap albums and doing all the talk shows etc.

But, just because they are a bunch of jerks doesn't mean that they didn't just pull of the biggest win in Superbowl history. They did. And they did it, the Patriots didn't give that one away. That, my friends and enemies, was a classic beating. I think the Patriots played a decent game. The Giants were just better. I just threw up in my own mouth.

If you played that game 20 times, the Giants would probably only win three out of twenty. But they only play once. The Giants knew that. They laid everything out and all those other silly cliches.

For one game, they were better. One game was all it took.

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