michael waltrip wrecked during gatorade duel & might not get in daytona 500 but he said he would put his "big boy britches on and keep going".

i heard this story on npr yesterday about how asperger's syndrome is now officially classified as a type of autism. that is to say, autism itself is now defined as a spectrum of disorders with highly functional folks at one end and minimally functional at another. now, i already thought this was how it was officially laid out - i didn't realize asperger's was a separate category. basically it is now how i thought it was all along. AS WELL IT SHOULD BE. anyways. this guy on npr was speaking about his asperger's, what it's like to live with it and what he thinks about asperger's's now being classified as part of the autism spectrum. he said - «it's hard to stomach being on a continuum that includes folks wearing adult diapers.» now i realize that asperger's is a social disorder and that perhaps this guy is minimally socialized, but someone needs to break it to him that we're all on a continuum that includes folks wearing adult diapers. it's called LIFE.

i heard this story on the local news this morning about how the weather has really been wintry - and by wintry of course i mean sucky - but that today it should be sunny so the road crews would be out taking this opportunity to fill in the potholes. what they do is throw some asphalt down in the holes and the asphalt doesn't stick because the road's too cold so it just sort of sits there in the hole waiting for you to drive by so it can hop a ride on your tire. while the road crews are out they of course put up warnings signs, barrels, cones, and barriers. the traffic report lady advised us thusly - «look out for the orange barrels and stuff.» i admire her specificity.

i heard this story on the national news about how bill clinton had to have a stent inserted in a coronary artery today. this is a minimally invasive procedure accomplished by snaking a catheter inserted in the groin up an artery to the place which is blocked where a balloon is inflated to open the artery and the stent is put in place. this procedure scientifically proves that the way to a man's heart is through his groin.