Ashlar Online

Some Favorites:

By Ashlar | February 17, 2010

Battles: found these guys via the Couch King.
The Crimea: British indie group, discovered via @warrenellis.
Dinosaur Jr.: started listening late high school/early college. “Start Choppin’” is one of my favorites of all time; inspired me in my playing (both guitar ans bass).
Far: Sacramento boys gone big, fallen, coming back.
Stalking Horses: discovered via @warrenellis, from his 4am podcast series.
(FB users will need to click through to original post to hear samples.)

Atlas (Battles) [7:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

White Russian Galaxy (The Crimea) [3:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Start Choppin' (Dinosaur Jr.): Play Now | Play in Popup

Mother Mary (Far): Play Now | Play in Popup

Everything Bounces (Stalking Horses): Play Now | Play in Popup

Topics: musica, podcast | No Comments »

On Autism: Tito

By Ashlar | February 10, 2010

Tito Mukhopadhyay and his mother, Soma

“Poem 7

The Mind Tree

Maybe it is night
Maybe it is day
I can’t be sure
Because I’m not yet feeling the heat of the sun
I am the mind tree
When I had been gifted this mind of mine
I recall his voice very clearly
To you I have given this mind
And you shall be the only kind
No one ever will like you be
And I name you the mind tree
I can’t see or talk
Yet I can imagine
I can hope and I can expect
I am able to feel pain but I cannot cry
So I just be and wait for the pain to subside
I can do nothing but wait
My concerns and worries
Are trapped within me somewhere in my depths
Maybe in my roots
Maybe in my bark
When he comes next who gifted me my mind
I shall ask him for the gift of sight
I doubt his return and
Yet hope for it
Maybe he will
Maybe he will not”
(Beyond the Brain: Mind Tree Poems (excerpts from the book, “Beyond the Silence”) NationalGeographic.com)

A more recent article, aside from the ’causes of’ reporting, and a list of his available works.

I had the fortune to meet Tito and his mother, Soma, early on in my career as a special education teacher, which helped shape my perception of Autism in particular and persons with impairments in general.

Topics: (special) educated, creativity, literalistic | No Comments »

Pick o’ th’ Moment: “Buried Alive”- Echo and the BunnyMen

By Ashlar | February 10, 2010

Mellow and melancholy– nice for a contemplative mood.
(click through to original post to listen)
"Flowers"- Echo and the Bunnymen

Buried live- Echo and the Bunnymen (Flowers) [3:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Topics: musica, podcast | No Comments »

“Miss me yet?”

By Ashlar | February 10, 2010

"Miss me yet?" CNN Politicker
No.

Topics: politicalamity | No Comments »

Pick o’ th’ Moment: Imperial March (Rage Mix)

By Ashlar | January 29, 2010

The dork is strong with this one. Th’ li’l’ one calls it, “Angry.” We listen to it a lot in the car.
Star Wars: Force Commander

Current Mood: (chipper)

chipper

Imperial March (Rage Mix) [2:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

Topics: dorkology, musica, podcast | No Comments »

Autism and Stem Cells

By Ashlar | January 28, 2010

Part of the problem with using stem cells to treat autism is that we don’t know what we are treating. Despite the enthusiastic promotion of various “theories” about what causes autism, there is no generally agreed upon pathology or “lesion” to treat. Even genetic studies fail to show one single genetic cause of autism, suggesting that what we call “autism” is a number of different disorders with a similar (or not so similar) appearance. Injecting stem cells in the vague hope that they will find the problem and fix it is foolish. Stem cells have no more idea of how to “fix” autism than we do – which is to say, “none”.

via Prometheus

Topics: (special) educated | No Comments »