SPLORE of Utah - Fun for Everyone

SPLORE is a non-profit organization in Utah that creates "Outdoor adventures for people with disabilities." And this is a story that is filled with goodness and happiness. There are times in our lives that we become accutely aware of our humanity. This winter, our experiences with SPLORE have been absolutely wonderful. Here's what we've done so far.

Indoor Rockclimbing
Our first experience with SPLORE was a few months ago. The program was seven weeks of rockclimbing, with the trained staff of SPLORE, teaching four autistic children the sport. Each child had someone assigned to them, to set up their equipment, spot for them, and encourage them. To say this was a success is a huge understatement. Our son Aaron absolutely loved it. Trepid at first, every climb built growing confidence and experience.

If you live in Utah, and want to get into this sport, I highly recommend Momentum. They have spectacular facilities. They even have a great web site. They have some climbs that are stories high, with a large variety of difficulty and terrain. This allowed the SPLORE folks to tailor different climbs to match the climbing level of each child. So everyone was challenged, and everyone experienced a pinnacle. Aaron was able to make the highest climbs. multiple times, and ring the bell at the top.

Cross-country Skiing
Since our first experience was so great, we did a simple, one day event at Solitude. This time, we had a mix of people with disabilities, and different ages. Debbie and I had a great time. It was easier than we had originally thought. Having a prepared area that is dedicated to cross-country skiing definitely helps.

Aaron was okay for the first hour, but I don't think he was thrilled with the bindings on his skiis. When he'd had enough, he just started off into the snow banks, with Susie chasing behind. This is just one example of the selfless and cheerful care that we've seen with the SPLORE staff and volunteers. The weather was great, the snow was fresh, and the atmosphere was easy and gentle.

Snowshoeing at the Spruces
Again, we did a first for us as a family. In the summer, The Spruces at Big Cottonwood Canyon Campgrounds is camperland. But in the winter, it's under many feet of snow. We had a new set of people and volunteers. We even had people with special sleds, who could not walk. Yet here we were, all out in the winter forest. Beautiful scenery, and a warm dose of human compassion.

There was a moment when one of the girls had fallen over on her sled. We were all there, helping out as a team, even having a good laugh. We had such a good time, we actually bought some snowshoes for the three of us. The photo shows just what kind of snow there was.

The thing we like about SPLORE is the chance to do something new in a safe environment. Being around people who are trained, who are specifically spending their time so that others can live a fuller life, is a good feeling. I have a lot of respect for the SPLORE crew, and the other participants. Their hearts are in the right place. It brings out the very best in the human spirit.

-- Cole Joplin

Book Review: AdvancED Flex Application Development: Building Rich Media X

I've been meaning to do more online book reviews, and blogging in general, but it's always hard to find the time. First, a big thanks to FriendsOfEd and John Lindquist at the Utah Director and Flash User Group for providing the book for this review. Thanks!

This book is intended for the advanced developer, as indicated by the AdvancEd moniker. It's always helpful to have the level easy to find, and FriendsOfEd are great at this. I'll be reviewing this as a senior developer, who is new to Flex itself, but experienced in Actionscript. This book is available at Amazon.

The authors are the guys at Almer/Blank, which is an Adobe Solution Partner. They describe in detail how they developed the LAFlash.org site. They were also featured in an interview on episode 31 of The Flex Show, which is a Flex podcast. So what about the book?

This is a fantastic book
It's organized well, takes concepts into practical application, and touches on some unique topics not found elsewhere. I didn't find the material very intimidating at all. It was an easy read. If you are managing a user group site, there's a lot of direct how-to to take your site to the next level. One of the benefits of this book is how easily it shows the practicality and power of using Flex for web development.

What's typical?
For completeness, they cover project planning, working with databases and web services, and navigation. Your typical developer will find a lot to love about the first half of the book. They touch on some of the Flex 3 features that make a big impact as well. Things like styling, Flex components and SWCs, RSLs (runtime shared libraries) and framework caching. To be honest, they've done an excellent job in describing these subjects with clarity.

What's unique about it?
If you have several Flex books, what's new here that hasn't already been covered? The most obvious is SEO (search engine optimization). I can't count how many times I've had people dismiss Flash platform development for this one reason alone. Now, thanks in large part to Google and the Sitemaps protocol, those excuses are over. You can deliver searchable content, and there's a whole chapter in this book about it. While the first reaction may be "What's this got to do with a web application?", there is a place for content delivered in a rich way.

I haven't seen another book do a Flash-based, step-by-step user group site, including blogs, job boards, event calendar, sharing of video content, and advertising models. More than a Flex book, they cover combining technologies like PHP, Drupal, and OpenAds. That's one of the core pieces of this book, how to integrate with Flex. The section on video is also well done, and makes suggestions about closed-captioning, which also has an SEO element to it.

Done almost apologetically, they touch on how to monetize a site with a Flex front-end. That is really unique to this book, and it has an importance that may get lost on the typical developer. It's the later part of the book that will appeal to the more sophisticated or business-savvy developer. It's a major part of the value of this book, because the other Flex books just don't go there.

Is it worth buying?
Yes, I think so. It's got something for everyone. But especially if you manage a user's group, are dealing with aggregating media and content, or doing something that relies on advertising and traffic. While they do not cover eCommerce in this book specifically, this is a really big deal if you are building an eCommerce site in Flex. It outlines how to enhance a Flex-based online store. That information alone is worth the price of the book.

-- Cole Joplin

Why The Vaccine-Autism Non-Link Study Announcements Aren't Working

This week there were two more nationally publicized announcements that "prove" there is no link between the mercury in vaccines and autism. (Update 2/26/2008 - But in US Federal Court, they just conceded that there is a link) Yet, this week I also had a total stranger at a gas station come up to me and ask what I thought was really going on. He had heard the announcements too, but had serious doubts, and he had a son about to vaccinated. Here's why I think these announcements are not working.

Science does not know what causes autism
Medicine has not the first clue as to the cause of autism. They admit it. By default, the medical establishment is speaking from lack of knowledge. That is dangerous and unscientific. We have only theories, nothing more. Science is just getting started on autism. Until there are concrete answers, people will want to play it safe. That is normal.

Autism rates continue to explode: 1 in every 150 children, getting worse
Something is obviously happening. There is a theory that better diagnosis is the reason. But this theory has a big problem: we can now properly diagnose the adult autism population, and the corresponding numbers are simply not there. A large portion of our population now has a friend, family member, co-worker, church member, or neighbor where someone's child has autism. This is something new, and we all know it. Anyone working in a public elementary school especially knows it. Five years ago, China reported no cases of autism in their population. This year, the count was 1.8 million kids. What changed? A nationwide program of an aggressive vaccination schedule, with widespread use of mercury-based vaccines.

Divided scientific opinion among doctors and researchers
In spite of what is portrayed on television, the medical community is not at all in lock step. Some of the most vocal promoters of a possible link are doctors, particularly if they have autistic children themselves. These are trained professionals and medical observers. Their number is growing each day. Many doctors are giving their own children mercury-free vaccines, but not sharing this fact with their colleagues for fear of ridicule.

Studies claiming no link are quickly debunked
Autism doctors are easily and successfully debunking these studies, usually within 48 hours. They actually read the study and the footnotes, and find holes you can drive a truck through. In one example, the famous Denmark study continuously quoted by the CDC, made all its calculations based upon a nine month exposure rate. No big deal? That means the study assumes that the day you administer the vaccine, the amount of mercury is not the actual amount, but the adjusted amount: 1/270th of the actual amount. If we follow this logic, taking nine months of sleeping pills in one day is perfectly safe. By the way, US-made vaccines with mercury are banned in Denmark, almost all Europe, and Japan.

Update 2/12/2008 - Both studies released this week declaring no link have been debunked. The MMR study was debunked as it narrows the field of eligible children to those with concurrent symptoms that basically eliminates autistic children from the study. The California mercury ban announcement (for year 2005) was debunked as it did not account for the fact that the vaccines with mercury were not removed from the system before the end of 2006, and studies will not be clear until 2009-2010. In other words, they are making claims about a law's lack of effect before the law had been put into effect. It is no accident that these announcements have gone unreported by national and local news media.

Independent scientific studies show a direct link
Virtually every study not funded by a pharmaceutical company has concluded there is a link. For example, the study from Columbia University which strongly suggested a link, has gone unchallenged and practically unreported. But it was strong enough for the CDC to threaten the University with getting their federal funds stopped if they did not change their conclusions. To their credit, they refused.

Mercury In Fish Is Bad: Mercury In Vaccines Is Good?!
The most toxic substance on our planet is being injected into babies. It's for their health. It's perfectly safe. But pregnant women shouldn't have fish more than one day a week, because mercury is bad. Sending these mixed messages does not instill public trust. Common sense, give it a try.

Criticizing parents does not work
In fact, it makes them mad, and even more determined. The most vocal proponents of no-link have consistently engaged in personal attacks against parents. This fact has not been lost on John Q. Public. When that person being attacked is a close friend or family member, a doubt is planted. Parents want this mystery solved -- now. In stark contrast, the CDC, the medical establishment, and big pharma are all happy to leave the mystery unsolved indefinitely.

When CDC officials go before Congress and oppose autism research funding, parents have every right to be upset, and ask inconvenient questions. You would think that any doctors would be begging for any medical research money they could get their hands on -- every penny. Why is autism the exception? Why is this particular mystery good for the CDC? It just doesn't make sense.

Doctors and hospitals are pushing vaccinations aggressively and emotionally
This was the point that I remembered most of my conversation at the gas station. His gut told him that something was wrong with the emotional, over-the-top conversation about vaccination safety. Getting over forty vaccines before age two sounds a bit -- crazy. Let me make this clear, I'm against mercury. I'm not against vaccines. I'm against vaccinations before the age of three. I'm for vaccines when a child has a better developed immune system, has an adequate production of MT protein, and the vaccine schedule that is spread out, using prudence and conservative caution that is consistent with the Hippocratic Oath and Scientific Method. Vaccines have reached a religious fever pitch of "perfection": the biggest God complex of all.

We've Seen This Before: The Tobacco Industry
Four out of five doctors prefer Camels. Hey, I didn't make that up. There were even TV commercials showing doctors smoking while treating kids. What were they thinking? Well, they weren't. They still aren't.

Big Pharma makes Big Tobbacco look like a beggar. Watch any national news program, and count the number of drug commercials. It took thirty years of conflicting medical studies before we finally realized that smoking caused lung cancer. What about the people killed by Vioxx? Is there something shady going on? Don't take my word for it. New documents about secret meetings and strategies to ridicule parents of autistic children are discovered or leaked all the time. Check out a book that has yet to have a single fact disputed by either side.

Conclusion
I submit that history is probably repeating itself right now. I predict the autism epidemic will get a LOT worse. Regardless of what your opinion is on the controversy, I have one question for anyone who will dare to answer:

How many autistic kids will it take before we do something? One in 100? One in 50? One in 10? Give us a number. Until that sea change happens, all the announcements will fail to put it to rest.

-- Cole Joplin