"While it is great, we are now starting to vaccinate against diseases where herd immunity will save fewer lives than the vaccine harms." So, you are talking about the chicken pox vaccines "causing more harm"--where can I look to find info about this? And you cannot compare "harms" and "deaths" --it makes not sense. How many harm equals a death? You cannot do that calculation. I want comparing deaths to deaths. When you stop vaccinating the "saving from death stat" will go up automatically. That's why we do it. About critiquing community immunity: So, your solution to protecting 100% everyone from preventable infectious disease is... Community immunity is what helped our species grow to where we are today. This is one of evolution's ways of doing it.

If you do not like the word "herd"[that was the first place they noticed it] you could call it community immunity. I think we all live in communities [unless you're a hermit I guess]. Nothing wrong with looking out for your brothers and sisters, right? Nothing wrong with helping your community fight disease, right?

"Bodily autonomy" I believe in that too: don't let your germs violate my bodily autonomy. There is no right "not to get sick", but if someone infected you with a crippling disease on purpose you would be opposed to that too , right? It is possible nowadays to trace microbes to their source i.e. cholera in Haiti was found to be from Nepal via genetic testing of the cholera strain. Someday that may be possible for all infectious diseases [genetic testing--finding strain]. When that day comes, I hope it comes with tracing what jerk refused vaccines and brought it into our lives. I think of it as an assault. Of course, you did not touch me, but that is not the standard in assault.[*That's for battery.] But your germs did. Not getting a vaccine is like feeding bears: you may like it, the bears may like it, but it endangers everyone around you, especially a neighbor. Feeding bears is against the law. So should be feeding infectious diseases that are preventable via vaccines.

Don't some water treatment facilities pass water through ultraviolet light? After all of that processing in the water company's equipment would those chemicals still re-combine [say like when it is in the underground pipes]?

Delusions would help a person believe that he would not get caught. If you have never had an obsession, you may not understand how it affects people with autism. I am not saying that he did not know that it was illegal. I think he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. In his case autism is not an excuse merely a partial explanation for some of his behavior, that does not excuse him or exclude him from the law. In prison he should be treated for his psychiatric conditions just like other prisoners. It is up to the court psychiatrist to determine if he can live safely with the general population in prison due to his autistic symptoms. BTW They are getting closer and closer to be able to do medical tests to see if a person has one of the many types of autism. See: http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00671/abstract

One feature of autism/Asperger's is obsessions. This and male teenage hormones do not mix well. I had many obsessions as an autistic/Asperger's teenage girl. The "girl" part can be a moderating factor in the expression of autism. [I'm officially diagnosed BTW]

If he is officially diagnosed, what would you say then? There are so many other diagnostic criteria besides "...you have problems coping...".

Popular Science's headlines are way too sensationalistic, many commenters only comment on the headline and never read the article or its references anyway. Like the one about not teaching higher algebra in school as a default, headline was something like: "Let's stop teaching math in school". What a disaster in the comments. Some people just want to be able to say [in their own minds]: "I'm smarter than these obviously stupid experts". That's the kind of thing that needs to stop or be downvoted into oblivion.

Can you point me to an example of a person self-diagnosed with Asperger's? Why would anyone want to claim they are on the autism spectrum when they are not on it? As a professionally diagnosed autistic [Asperger's], I see so much discrimination when people find out that I am autistic. Recent shootings' news commentators claim that the shooter had Asperger's and that is why he killed all of those kids. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/15/1170176/-They-re-Saying-the-Shooter-Had-Asperger-s Why would anyone want to claim that they have the same thing as a mass shooter of children? People also say that we are vaccine-damaged and unable to care for ourselves. I want to talk to these supposedly real people who self-dx themselves. I have yet to encounter anyone like that despite my time hanging out in the neurodiversity movement online. This trope about Asperger's needs to end.

"Children have fully adult brain function at an average of age eight. The rest of childhood, as far as the brain is concerned, is learning stuff, beginning with the word "WHY"! I think this author seems to disagree with you: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text Brain scientists are leaning toward saying that our brains are not mature until they are around age 25.