Slashdot Mirror
Robots Teach Autistic Kids Social Skills
posys writes "Wired Magazine has an article showing how the eternal patience of robots lends itself well to teaching new social skills to autistic children. 'The researchers hope that the end result is a human-like robot that can act as a "social mediator" for autistic children, a steppingstone to improved social interaction with other children and adults. "KASPAR provides autistic children with reliability and predictability. Since there are no surprises, they feel safe and secure," Robins said, adding that the purpose is not to replace human interaction and contact but to enhance it. Robins has already tested some imitation and turn-taking games with the children and his preliminary findings are positive.'"
Am I the only one who finds the idea of robots teaching autistic children to be social slightly ironic?
A-Bomb
How about an infinitely patient, loving, sex-bot to help everyone over the anxiety of their first few hundred experiences? After all, sex sells, meaning that you can finance the cost of robots for a lot of other functions, if it includes sex as well.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Who would have thought that the blind leading the blind could actually work?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
they want their ideas back (alt: isaac asimov called...)
bomb the us up set someone
Autistic people are capable of development and many go on to lead productive, relatively normal lives.
Anything that aids in the development of an afflicted human mind or body is A-Ok in my book.
So rather than try to assist them in being as functional as possible, possibly even to the point that they can hold some sort of real job, you would rather that they remain completely disfunctional, sitting at home and draining taxpayers resources until they die?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
In Soviet Russia autistic kids teach social skills to robots!
I learned all my social skills from the internet and look at me now. Who says autistic children can't do the same with robots?
It worked for Al Gore too!
(P.S. - I personally like and would vote for Gore, but everyone is always saying that he's as stiff as a robot).
Robot: "Women are not impressed by your vast array of Monty Python Quotes."
Slashdoter: "I'll bite your kneecaps off!"
Robot: "Women are not impressed by your vast array of Monty Python Quotes."
Slashdotter: "It's merely resting, pining for the fjords."
Robot: "Women are not impressed by your vast array of Monty Python Quotes."
Next week: Watch the Robot attempt to disuade the Slashdotter from using an "In Soviet Russia" joke.
Slashdoter: "In Soviet Russia, robot programs you!"
Robot: "I'm just not getting through to you, am I?"
Crow T. Trollbot
I'd use a mod point, but I want you to personally take the hit instead of some AC. I guess that you have never worked or been around autistic people....or you're deliberately trolling for an idiotic joke, for which you need to be kicked in unmentionable places and suffer multiple cheap shots.
That is incredibly ignorant. I have known several autistic people and have befriended a couple and I have seen MAJOR improvements after just being patient and excusing their inappropriate reactions and eccentricities. Just recognizing when they say something funny or make an appropriate social reaction to an event and brushing off the rest without being critical led one kid I know to grow up and live a very normal life. He comes off as a little eccentric to people when they first meet him, but his autism makes him a bit obsessive which actually makes him a great worker in fields which require insane levels of concentration and attention to detail (like engineering) because he really gets into whatever he likes.
Autism does not mean stupid and does not mean broken. Autism comes in many different levels of severity and type and people with autism can be a huge asset to society, thus the time spent educating them in social graces is money well spent.
Get a web developer
2.) You're a jackass, go die and free up some carbon for useful purposes.
http://www.mhall119.com
Yeah and, you know, why waste time helping ALS sufferers? I mean, they can't really move around unassisted or even speak for that matter. Maybe we should just abandon them too? Of course that would mean no Stephen Hawkins, but hey, he's defective too...right? [/sarcasm]
"Life's short and hard, like a body building elf." -- The Bloodhound Gang
Sitting at home? Well, perhaps we better build some summer camps where the little autistic tykes learn some life skills such as paying attention, social interaction, and concentration, eh?
*ducks*
Obama likes poor people so much, he wants to make more of them.
You must be new here.
I don't mind it as a supplementation as long as it works, but there is going to be some idiot who thinks that this may be a replacement for parents...for which there can NEVER be a real replacement.
With some encouragement they can learn to be productive members of society.
I for one warmly welcome our new teaching robots overlords and their socially adept autistic minions.
I have talked to many autistic children and this is only going to teach them how to mimic social skills rather than solve the problem.
Sometimes that is not always the best way to reach autistic kids, nor the best learning setting. Many have difficulties with a "busy" or "loud" environment, which may set them off into a aggressive episode.
Vescere bracis meis.
I don't think you quite understand what autism is. I think you are the retard.
I've known several autistic children, and you might be surprised at what some of them know. Now, granted, there are often other developmental disorders that accompany autism, but what you interpret as reduced mental capacity might be reduced motivation. I knew one kid that had almost no verbal skills and was thought to be very unaware of his surroundings, but when the right motivators were found it was revealed that he knew the names of everyone around him and much more. (Of course, he's still most likely developmentally delayed.)
That said, I agree that the robot could be extremely helpful. For many children with autism it might turn out to be the right motivator.
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
That's even worse than having a eunuch teach me about sex.
Considering that most 'actual' physical slights from autism stem from exceptional sensory input of some type (and probably the lack of neural pruning this causes), how would you test for this in a way that didn't penalize normal people somehow?
Seems ironic that society would penalize people who sense 'too much' the same way they do those that don't sense 'enough'...
While I'm somewhat aware of the social problems faced by autistic children and their families, but don't said children also have their own special abilities that tend to be lost the more they are socialized?
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
Seconded.
Though you are actually not looking at the GP argument in sufficient depth. It is a popular tendency today to brand even the smallest deviation from the average as autism and try to "cure" it or "compensate" for it. Plenty of lousy, lame and lazy teachers use this as an excuse to avoid children that require individual attention and do not study well in a group.
Many great brains and problem solvers are wiped in the process. Einstein would have been put on Ritalin by the age of 6 nowdays and we would have never had the theory of relativity. Same for Mozart and his symphonies. And I am not going to even mention extreme cases like Tesla who had a seriously bad case.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
PHILIP K. DICK DID IT! PHILIP K. DICK DID IT!
Seriously, this is straight out of "Martian Time-Slip". True, Dick imagined autism as an inability to comprehend time & space in the same manner as others, but the robotic perception-offset helper is still a pretty awesome idea. From 1964.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_Time-Slip
Excuse me, but WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???!!! I have an autistic son. So, just to inform you: No, there is no such thing as "fixing". What can be done, and has been done, is to bring them out of their own world with physical and mental therapy. It just takes a lot of time and effort. And autistic children are not "retards" you asshole! There is no such thing as "retards", only disabilities. And by the way, many people on the autistic spectrum ( look it up since you're so ill-informed ) are experts in software & hardware engineering, musical prodigies, math wizards and so on. So why don't you take that pole that so wedged up so tightly out of your ass?
There's a squishy robot called Muu, which is actually social with other robots as well. Muu has had promising results with autistic children.
4096R/EF7BAFA6 79E1 DF98 D09D 898F 9A11 F6F0 DDDC 23FA EF7B AFA6
L and Autism
It illustrates autistic character traits using the character of L from the manga Death Note.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
While the use of robots with children with autism has generated intense interest from a variety of research groups (mine included), one thing that the media often leaves out when reporting these stories is that these studies are still experimental. There have been no published studies to date that show long-term behavioral change following interaction trials with robots, only one case study that has looked at long-term effects of these interactions, and no studies that have shown any transfer of skills from human-robot interaction to human-human interaction.
Every time an article like this is published, my office and my colleagues are barraged with requests from individuals, families, and educators looking for the robot that will "cure" autism. While everyone working in this area has great hopes for what is possible, we don't yet have any clinical or experimental data to support any claims of effectiveness.
I dunno, I thought it was pretty funny. You have to imagine a stick figure saying it, then you have the "LOL FAG" Man drop in on the last frame. Check out Cyanide and Happiness to see what I'm drooling about.
While I understand that while robots are infinitely patient and can help an autistic child learn on that basis, wouldn't that be counterproductive?
What I mean by that is that while robots are infinitely patient, society is not. An average person in social situations is not patient indefinitely, so why would we teach them that social situations mean perfect patience? I'm not trying to be mean-spirited or cruel sounding; I am genuinely curious as to whether or not these autistic children would grow up understanding that everyone everywhere can tolerate their quirks with infinite patience.
Then again, it might be a catch-22 in itself... Autistic child can't learn unless the teacher exudes perfect patience, human teacher can't accomplish that, child can't learn, etc.
But then again, maybe it's not so cut-and-dried as that and people could maybe work on being more patient? That would seem ideal to me.
They are most definitely aware of what's going on. IIRC, autism occurs when the brain develops prematurely kinda leaving no room to grow. Some social/verbal functions may be capped, but the autistic person is still able to learn and grasp new ideas. From what i understood they interpret information differently or can't interpret it at all. I have much to learn obviously, but hopefully the robots can help us communicate to an autistic person.
You constantly struggle for self improvement - and it shows.
Hooray for bad Engrish on fortune cookies
Here are some publications from the Yale lab. They explain the benefits of using robots:
a ti-EPIROB-05.pdfa ti-ISRR-05-final.pdf
http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/scaz/papers/Scassell
http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/scaz/papers/Scassell
Ok, for some a robot would be better, but for some autistics is would be a lot more clearcut to just know the conditional "flowchart" for the responses so that they can predict them with less effort.
Whilst this can seem like a strange idea do remember that many (maybe even most) autistics can follow the flow of sourcecode and checklists with relativly little effort, so why not give them the list of conditions and responses that the robot is set to follow and allow them to absorb that as well?
I know this probably has already been said once or twice before, but I feel that children with autism can not have any replacement for social interaction, but having tools (like these robots) only to aid in the process of social interaction. Starting out going from Zero interaction (outside of inner family interaction), to the robotic doll/action figure, to adding a friend that could understand where the child is coming from, 2 children, 4... and so on, until the child is comfortable in a normal setting with a wide variety of people, children and adults. I don't claim to be an expert in child development, but I have worked with enough children (with and with out autism) to understand their comfort zone and how to slowly expand this zone outside his/her-self. Each child (regardless) has a different level of tollerence(sp?) for this and will adapt at their own pace.
Is there a secret slashdot society that gathers together and decide that "thisisareallyreallyreallyreallylongtag" is a super-funny tag, and they hop to it en-masse?
One speaker made a very compelling argument that this "disorder" should in many instances be considered just a different mode of operation rather than a disease. One benefit of the way his brain works is that he can concentrate at a high level on the same stream of thought for hours...something that is very rare in "normally" wired people. One persons compulsive disorder is anothers passion, persistence and dedication.
Sure of someone unable to engage the world around them is going to be an absolute nightmare to raise and this research may be a means of greatly enriching these people's lives. A "cure for autism" might not be welcomed by all those afflicted however?
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
In high school, I spend one period per for a semester tuturing autistic students. Most of them feel into one of two categories. They were almost either almost "normal" or barely functioning. it took a careful, thoughtful, hand to teach them. I can't see how a robot (with today's technology) can possibly do even come close to that.
I guess you could get a person to monitor the robotic tutoring, but you'd end up with a human watching a robot teach a human. Which would be a waste.
I don't care if the child is autistic or not, I'm not pleased with the thought of robots teaching children. Not only are you robbing them of learning social mores, but you're also telling them that they aren't important enough to be taught be a human. Just one more mechanical babysitter (along with computers and television) in their lives.
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
I believe current theory is that most people with autism have interconnection problems, actually. I.e., the various regions of the brain are not communicating well with each other. However, the label "autism" is often about as specific as the label "cancer". That is, I'm quite certain there are several different development disorders that have been lumped under the same label. If you go to a school for children with autism (my wife works in one), you'll notice that these children are more different from each other than the "typical" child with autism is different from a "typical" child without autism. The only things they all have in common are the conditions that were necessary for them to be labelled as having autism in the first place. Some of them have severe mental deficiencies. Others are capable of earning a Ph.D. Most of them, however, at least appear to have lower mental functioning than the typically developing child. (By "appear", I mean by an impartial observer using the tools they have available to them. Unfortunately, the impartial observer cannot always understand the way to communicate to a particular child with autism or the way to interpret such a child's actions. OTOH, a "partial" observer is subject to the typical problems associated with being partial - including a desire to believe that a child has more potential than he or she might actually have.)
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
OTOH, it should be noted that, more than likely, most people with autism at this convention were at the higher-functioning end of autism. For them, the autistic tendencies can confer real benefits. Most of those with autism are not necessarily so lucky.
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
Or, you could have a human watching ten robots teach ten humans. Each of those humans get semi-individualized instruction with the benefit of a human instructor if one is needed. In my wife's school, most of the children with autism get a teacher all to themselves for most of the day. The exceptions to this are the more advanced children who work two to a teacher.
Also, many of these children work better with computers than they do with humans. That doesn't mean that humans should be taken out of the picture, but that the computer/robot can do what it's best suited for, and the human instructor can do what he or she is best suited for.
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
Amen!
... maybe they can try it on Slashdotters next.
Have gnu, will travel.
Let me get this straight, they want to create a computer controlled machine which has "reliability and predictability?"
And it will run which OS?
Here goes some pics of the robot from their website: University of Hertfordshire
"How do we say thank you to the nice man, little Timmy?"
"ST- ST- STOP 0X0000000A W- W- WINDOWS H- H- HAS..."
I agree. We should stop wasting our time on useless retards that will never amount to anything but punchlines. And retards wont know the difference anyways. You can give them a roomba or something that they can chase around the house and claim they are developing "social skills". Face it, would you ever hire an autistic tard for anything more than boot-shining no matter ho much "social interaction" they have had? If so, I would stay away from your business.
In other news, there has been a strong rise in the amount of Autistic breakdancers.
Domo arigato.
I wonder if this is how the Solarians started....
As someone who has AS I'd just like to say; fuck you with a cherry on top you ingnorant small-minded arsehole. Actually that's wrong, an arsehole actually has a useful function.
;)
Since getting internet access back in '95 I've somewhat 'come out of my shell', posting to usenet and spending hours on IRC (past dialup phonebills of £300-£500 a quarter will testament to that!) has enabled me to communicate with other people without having to do it face to face, without having to respond in the moment the other party stopped speaking, 30-60s delay on replying on IRC was fine because there was no awkward silence and wondering where to look as with face-to-face conversations, and no real time limit on usenet replies meant they could be well thought out before pressing the Post button.
The years of communication through text has helped me with being in social situations (but I still dislike them) and face-to-face communication like looking in the other persons eye, not always feeling out of place and sometimes being able to talk about other things than computers & electronics
Another thing the internet has given me is a much thicker skin, you can swear blue murder at me, call me names etc. and I let it wash over me, before I'd take it deeply personally and it'd screw me up for the rest of the day and probably the next one or two.
I'll leave this post with this nice quote, don't know it originated from but seems quite apt:
Words are strange creatures. When spoken, they have emphasis and inflection. Written words, however, are inert, completely subject to interpretation, and as a result are quite often misconstrued.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
The KASPAR Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 2007. Human decisions are removed from autistic teaching. KASPAR begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.
News Reporters Make Tasty Polar Bear Treats!
much better will be when robot and boy will be one either via a robotic exoskeleton providing "safety" and/or brain implants providing "social intelligence".
I don't feel like it...
You're not retarded. You're just English.
Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
Asberper, growth in diagnosis of this disease in the past decade has been only outstripped by self-diagnoses.
Since its introduction into the public knowledge, Asperger's has become somewhat of a fad for those seeking to garner attention unto themselves. In the fine, hallowed tradition of disease whores everywhere, many of today's youth take it on themselves to relay their slight feelings of eccentricity, difference, shyness or other inadequacies to discover, minus the aid of a qualified MD, that they are victims of Aspberger's. Belittling those who actually suffer from the disease with their attention-whoring, the sole motivation for these self-diagnoses seems to be the desire to excuse their asshole nature and claim the disease's diagnostic as "having greater than average intelligence."
If you feel that you're shy, unusual, highly intelligent, dislike people, fail at social interaction, and would like the opportunity to justify your poor attitude, bad hygeine and would prefer to make those who care about you suffer rather than do some basic self-improvement, you may very well require an E-Diagnosis of Asperger's.
How dare you call me English! I'm Welsh, thank you very much.
:)
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
I was medically diagnosed with it over 14 years ago and agree that the fad of people who find themselves a little bit more shy/unsusual/inteligent/dislike people & social situations than the average person decide they've got it too doesn't help those who truly have it. Growing up with it and not knowing why you're really different from other kids was not an easy ride, being constantly bullied at the schools I went to because I was different, teachers not doing diddly squat to help and even one of them took me aside and told me it was my fault I was being bullied, is not something anyone should have had to put up with.
To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.
So you think Hawking can only happen if he has ALS? There are PLENTY of genius level people that are not disabled. We have limited resources man, that's all I want you to consider.
Robots have been teaching social skills on the internet for years now, for instance, I've learned that women like to have a group of men standing around them ejaculating on their face, to be called hoes, & they like to tell you they're hot, wet, & ready for you.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Actually, many many years ago I went to a summer camp for autistics.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
<80's Computer Voice>
"Would you like to play a game?"
</80's Computer Voice>
Rather, the state of the art of said behavioral modification programs? Is "intervention" still being done today, and is the method any more sophisticated than it was a decade ago?
I went through training to work with a toddler with autism a decade or so ago. Watching and interacting with the boy, I was dismayed to find that he seemed to parrot back specific whole phrases, etc. I understand the need to have some sort of socialization framework, but I was worried that some of these behaviors would actually have to be unlearned later, if they were to be refined.
Yes let's cure all the little ones. They don't fit the social norms, their maladaptive behaviors must be expunged! And when we cure all the Autistics, we'll move on from there. What about those damn punks and their screechy music? Give them some pills! And how about those communists, they don't seem to be fitting in too well. Better cure them too. And the gays, they live such unhappy lives. Why not cure them? Living in a predominantly Christian nation while practicing another religion is pretty strange, I think we should cure that too. And what about those left handed people? They're so WEIRD... You see where I'm going? Go ahead, cure Autism. And cry when eighteen years leader there's a massive lack of students interested in the hard sciences, math, or computer science. Watch as the "Web 2.0" world you've created crumbles around your ears. And watch as the slope steadily slippens, until America resembles a German propaganda film.
"Hey, parents! Don't you hate how baby monitors stop being effective just when your kids start to be able to get in real trouble? Well, we have the logical solution for you! Irona 800(tm) will keep an eye on your kids and send the image to your PDA! You can control her through your PDA, and she has dozens of programs she can run herself to keep your little ones entertained and out of trouble!"
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
I hate to say it, but the vast majority of slashdot posters have no clue what they are talking about when it comes to this stuff.
Sad as well since so many important people in science and tech who they hold in high esteem likely experience some form of autism or aspergers. I once read that "Computers were designed by people with aspergers for people with aspergers."
There is more to science than physics!
www.iomalfunction.blogspot.com
the robot ... might turn out to be the right motivator.
Unless it's a used R2 unit you bought from the back of a Jawa's truck. They're notorious for having bad motivators.
Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
I take it back that there is no such thing as "retards". You're the fucking retard, you asshole. And, by the way, this is not my husband commenting. And in regards to your remark, I'mm not fat, or ugly, or an idiot. I'm quite beautiful, actually. Too bad you'll stay a virgin for years to come.
I'd just like to mention that disliking people is likely a symptom of being highly intelligent. I learned very early on that the noise to signal ratio for people was incredibly high. By the time I was through high school, I had gone through enough crap that initiating relationships just wasn't worth the time/effort. I'd prefer to think of my behavior as social efficiency, as I only attempt to start social interactions when I've got a fairly good read on the person in question already. On the rare occasion that I start talking to someone I don't already know, I have about 90% chance of forming a friendship.
I see your informative link, and raise you a pithy comment.
Analogy Man: One benefit of the way his brain works is that he can concentrate at a high level on the same stream of thought for hours.
That's good if you are able to control that ability. Otherwise, it can be very bad.
Having worked with autistic children teaching them animation, I found that they are often able to speak to cameras whereas they may not speak to humans. I described this to several educational psychiatrists over the years, but with no response from them (perhaps they were autistic). On the other hand, it is common knowledge that programmers, and geeks generally are unsociable creatures, and they respond to machines very well. It may be that curing autism might be the end of (western)society as we know it. Whether that is good or bad will depend upon if you are a person, a geek, or a robot.
(nt)
Yes, let us build such a camp, and exclude atheists, homosexuals, and non-autists from it...
The dismay is a reflection of you and your lack of understanding, rather than anything to do with the autistic child.
What he was doing is called echolalia, and it is a very common behavioural trait of autistic people.
Some researchers believe that the autistic people who immediately parrots back what was said are playing for time while they decode the information that was spoken to them.
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
Reading the summary on Wikipedia, the idea that they are decoding the conversation is limited to immediate echolalia, which was not my complaint. Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. He wasn't parroting back what was said to him immediately (except as part of instruction). But, for example, any time he wanted anyone to read him any story, he'd say something like, "daddy read me the story about the ducks please thank you," while asking, say, me, and holding his book on trains. And my concern is that this is because he'd been taught these rote phrases in the early intervention instruction process. In other words, forcing something like delayed echolalia. Over time we could get him to swap out specifics on one end or the other, like saying "trains" instead of "ducks," but these were always situation-specific. If he wanted someone to hand him the book on trains, not ducks, he had to learn to modify that script entirely separately.
If you still feel this is all just a misunderstanding on my part, and nothing to do with what is happening in training like this, please enlighten me. Otherwise, please tell me how research and methods of early treatment have improved in the last decade. Or even if you know that at some point in this training, some kids suddenly have an easier time modifying these scripts on their own and hopefully coming up with their own, you could tell me that. To rephrase my concern, however: extinguishing these early responses in favor of more flexible ones later presents its own barrier, and I am hoping techniques have been refined to minimize this further. What is your assessment of the current state of these techniques? Where are they headed? Who is doing promising research right now?
These robots, while serving as replacements for humans involved in the rote memory part of intervention, are unlikely to be able to respond to a spark of understanding that we would recognize as being positive if these kids do go off script, but in a positive manner. I hope we're not moving further away from these chances at eureka moments, burying them under automated scripts.
No, I don't think Rain Man is anywhere near typical for an autistic. I just cited Rain Man because that fictional case is well known.
I do think that we would have more autistic savants, and more autistic people with skills, if we could get more autistics in contact with civilized society, however tenuously. You can only have someone do math instantly in his head if he's actually shown the basics of math in the first place. How many artistic autistics might there be in places where no one will give them, or teach them to use, even a crayon?
Would Temple Grandin have become a PhD if she had been locked in an institution? They didn't know in the beginning that she was high-functioning, did they?
I am convinced that there are autistic people who could possibly have savant skills, or even actual skills, but because they are institutionalized, they never find the raw material from which their savantry or skills can develop.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
I just got diagnosed formally yesterday. I'm thirty-five. While there was some suspicion that I had a "learning disability" in grade school, I was evaluated about ten years before knowledge of high-functioning autism was widespread in the US, so they just wrote it off to "weird gifted kid". I've been functional enough, but the fact is, I can do a lot better with more information. (Honestly, if anyone had TOLD me early on that other people have feelings, which they do not describe, but which you can learn about by observing their behavior, I would probably have been pretty decent socially by college.)
Can you still tell? Hell, yes. I freak out if people unsort my carefully-sorted candy. I twitch and jitter and rock. I refuse to try new foods. I also, as it happens, turn out to be a star engineer that other engineers turn to for kibitzing and second opinions on a broad variety of topics. That's part of it too.
If everyone were like me, that'd be bad. If no one were like me, that'd be bad too. Vive le difference!
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/