they sure do make it a lot easier, with some downsides as well. i use keepassx on *nix, and keep a portable keepass on my USB thumb drive for windows computer. all my passwords are store in it, all are 25 characters, with around 200 bits of entropy each. the only thing to worry about, is the master password, which was created using keepassx's password generator as well. as long as i remember to exit it before leaving, or at least locking the computer, there's not much to worry about. all passwords different, all strong, and auto-type makes things very easy. the downside is... you dont really know any of your passwords, and become reliant on the program. that's why i keep at least 2 complex passwords committed to memory and use them for common stuff, like my email. it's quite embarrassing to sit by your university project partner, be asked to login to the university website, put hand in pocket, realize you forgot the thumbdrive home, and exclaim "i don't know my uni password at the moment".

oh you'll be surprised... don't be alarmed if one day you discover someone inside your own house is ad-clicking, or worse, can't tell the difference between a real button, and a flash-drawn ad button... and here i thought, my people would know better after all these years of obviously useless rants from my side....

that's why firefox has this nice addon called "ghostery". even better yet, if you don't mind creating exceptions for every new website you visit, "request policy" along with "ghostery" can completely kill this method of tracking, and i find it much saner than using "noscript".

It seems like you have the right idea of how to deal with him.

You are right, it's not a disability. The most important thing to consider, is getting him ready for the world outside. His interaction with society will never be as normal and easy as with the majority of people, but with proper training, and education, he can act like it is. People with autism lack empathy, and don't understand human emotions properly. It confuses them, and can put them in awkward positions as they rack their brain trying to guess what a non-autistic person would have done in similar circumstances. And this is the part to be focused on. Teaching them standard social behaviour. Autistic people love rules, love routine, and teaching them proper responses to common questions, proper behaviour to common incidents, will certainly make them much happier in life. If they dont know how to respond to something, they'll try and remember taught rules, then try to remember past experiences, maybe something they've seen in a movie, or read from a story, or happened with another family member.

For example, if one day, your son got married, and his wife bought him a bouquet of flowers. You shouldn't expect him to be as delighted as most men would be. But with proper training, he'll understand the gesture, he'll understand what she means by them, and will display the delight she's expecting, even though in reality, he really doesn't care about flowers at all. Eventually, he'll be capable of understanding most social interactions, understand expected responses, and cope with society, hiding his syndrome from everyone except those close to him.

All it takes is the basic understanding of what he has, and what *others* are like, and why he should try and cope.

Hope this helps you.

... and hacking your electronics into oblivion when provoked.

Indeed. Once you get used to it, you find it hard to believe that the rest of the world can't think like you. For the autistic (the high functioning ones), they find their minds highly logical, and can't understand how that is a "weird" thing. As far as I'm concerned it's an advantage one ought to be proud of.

Actually, Skype DOES use relaying. I use skype from behind a NAT, and so do most of my contacts, we're all inaccessible through our external IP addresses, and sometimes, me and my contact are from the same ISP, and hence behind the same NAT, sharing same external IP address. why it works? because our communication goes through skype servers!

it's not democracy, or republic, and far away from fascism yet. i prefer to call it "elected dictatorship". you elect a group of people to rule you dictatorially for few years, while ensuring whoever succeeds them, will have the same agenda.

indeed, and that's my point

the code is still out there somewhere, someone has a copy of it, the copy has a license file saying it's GPL'ed, and it can continue with the GPL, and original author can't force them to switch license regardless of what he did to his copy of code

well, technically... GPL cant decline unless a project is taken offline, the license doesn't permit the project to get another non-free license after it gets GPL'ed

my cousin smokes a pack a day, and he's perfectly healthy. hell, he's much stronger than me. i don't understand all this "smoking is bad" advertising.

not familiar with this particular malware's design, or Mac malware in the first place, but didnt it require admin privileges to get this, malware inside? or was it abusing some vulnerability to gain admin privs itself?

but... but... i install every single update i ever get wind of... i have a very bad case of Obsessive Compulsive Aptitude Disorder... or am i weirdo?:$

I can totally relate to that. Any sufficiently challenging game, with a decent reward system, and "feel good about yourself" moments would do.

But then comes times like this year, when you have lots of work to do, a senior project to finish by a very short deadline, a shitty boss, and add one or two nasty incidents, and you suddenly find yourself lacking the time to get into any video game, but quite to the contrary, you start feeling guilty when playing instead of working on the project, and the depression crawls back into you.

So it boils down to helping your depression vs helping your life? A question that is depressing itself :(

Please let this happen... This whole centralized system has taken quite the while to be disintegrated and replaced with de-centralized censor-free one... then again, I guess no new system will be designed and used until the current one is no longer usable which, unfortunately, still is.

Hence why, real nerds, should stay on the lookout for the next DNS-destroying law, with least repercussions, and vividly support it... Only then, will we start thinking realistically of a new DNS system.

Bittorrent came in times when regular HTTP/FTP sharing became threatened, TOR came in times when anonymity was threatened, the whole FOSS world came in times when software freedom was threatened... Same for DNS, let's hope the change is soon.

And for a little laugh on the matter, http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Support-The-Daily-WTF-in-Supporting-the-Support-SOPA-Movement.aspx