November is, in my book the beginning of the Holiday Season.

Caren and I are already making plans for Thanksgiving and into the Holiday Season.  We'll be busy, as usual.  It'll be great fun.  We hope you too will have a great Holiday Season.
 

If you have children from 18 months on up to about 5 or 6 and you will be visiting Philadelphia, or if you are already close by, consider the Please Touch Museum. 

You can learn more about the museum at www.pleasetouchmuseum.org. Its located at 210 North 21st Street near the Franklin Institute. 

Julien, Caren and I had a nice time on a Sunday morning visit.  It was pay what you want day, so we got a discount.  We found that the Please Touch Museum is a perfect place for toddlers!

This year, we skipped a trek in search of foliage.  There are a few spots around here to see foliage, but nothing like the mountains in New England and New York. 

As I write this month, Julien plans to participate in Halloween. 

He's already painted one of the pumpkins that we got.  He's got a costume too.  He'll be a Tele Tubbiest.  If you know the television show, you know he'll be appropriately costumed for his age.

Getting Julien a costume required going to many stores.  Most of them were too dark and spooky for Julien.  Several just didn't have his thing.  At two, he's able to say what he likes from what he doesn't like. 

Finding what Julien likes is sometimes not an easy task. 

In the case of a Halloween costume, when he'd be okay with a store, Julien didn't like the costumes.  I'd given up after several attempts, figuring he'd settle for anything on Halloween eve, just to get out there in the event and the neighborhood. 

Then, surprisingly, a few days later, he and Caren came home, costume in hand, excitedly telling me how great it was.  Hmmm, will I ever learn... or, did I already get it right?

Julien unquestionably has begun to develop a sense of apprehension and fright with what's strange for him.

For another example, a maintenance person came into the daycare at the gym that Julien uses.  That, by itself was reason for Julien not to go to the gym the next day.  He said he was afraid.  Men don't usually enter the daycare and this man had a big tool belt on too.  A few days later, Caren made sure to introduce Julien to Walter, the man that he'd seen previously.  Julien learned that Walter "fixes" things and surprisingly, Walter still isn't okay by Julien.  This is strange to me, because, Julien loves to fix things.  Presently, if Julien sees Walter entering the daycare, he's unlikely to want to go back on the next day.

Its a part of growing up.   Other parents report similar "fright" behaviors. 

He's getting big, slightly over 3 feet tall.  Hopefully, I'll get some pictures and descriptions into Julien's pages soon.  I had a failure of that hard drive.  Maybe I can rescue the pictures.  Otherwise, I'll scan them eventually. 

Meantime, I did add lots of great material for children.  Make a mental note to visit Julien's pages with the kids.

Content this month

Topics: serial killer profiling, war and the "Axis of Evil" and, of course some humor too
Special: authentic happiness and children and parenting
 

Windows Recovery
includes how to recover a Windows system even if it fails to boot.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
summarizes common problems into a help file. 

Thanks for continuing to send comments and questions.  I've got a few more to document... like, how to turn off the annoying Internet Explorer messages.  Stay tuned for that and other FAQs as I document more of them each month.

What Else?
If you'd enjoy an up-lifting presentation, I've added a few at the TaoZenTruth pages.  I think the music backgrounds are good.  I hope you enjoy it if you get to check out the pages there.
 

I'll E-see you soon.  Remember, you are my best learning partner!
 
Keep those e-mails coming. 

- Eric

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Extensive work is being done with neurotransmitters, testosterone levels, and patterns of trace minerals.

While no one study is conclusive, they all show a high correlation between antisocial behavior and chemical interactions within the body.

In a new development, using brain imaging techniques that map the brain, scientists can find similar patterns in the brain activity of people who commit violent crimes.

In the 1990s a research team — led by Adrian Raine of the University of Southern California and Monte Buchsbaum, now at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York — did brain scans of 25 convicted murderers. What possesses them to murder?

The team believes that they've found out that killers may have abnormalities in the front sections of the brain — the frontal lobes.

The scan of a repeat murderer's brain, right, is darker along the top because the frontal lobes are inactive.

(Science Magazine/ Adrian Raine and Monte S. Buchsbaum)

Researchers indicate that people with poor impulse control may simply seem poorly organized, or socially inept.   However, they cite a myriad of other factors — ranging from schizophrenia to severe abuse in childhood — that may play roles."

"We can't specifically say, 'This person will be a sniper and at age 30 will carry out such-and-such a crime.'

That is fundamentally impossible," Buchsbaum says. "  "What we can do is understand the underlying dimensions of impulse control — how the brain stops behavior — and perhaps we can learn to strengthen this, with educational strategies, or with drugs."

Can forensic scientists see into a murderer’s memory?
Forensic science is investigating uniqueness of the human brain. They believe that profiling and new cutting-edge technology may bring new invisible clues to light.

This includes a new technique of tapping the suspect’s mind, into a criminal's own memory.

Dr. Lawrence Farwell, the Director and Chief Scientist at the Human Brain Research Laboratory in Fairfield, Iowa, developed a computerized system of brain printing that reads centers of the human brain.

Dr. Farwell says that brain scans will one day be used to positively link perpetrators to their crimes.

How it Will Work
When someone commits a crime, his brain maintains a memory and by using scans, forensic detectives may reveal that memory.

Essentially, they will do this by showing the suspect evidence taken from the crime scene. 

• A head band with sensors is placed on the subject

• A series of pictures or words is flashed on the screen

• A computer will record the brain waves produced in response to what the subject sees.

• Responses are recorded; as wave forms

By analyzing patterns of waves, a forensic scientist may one day determine if subject recognize crime scenes and clues that only the criminals would know about. 

For now, rigorously lab tests are still needed for Dr. Farwell’s technology to become accepted as a true read into the mind of an actual killer.

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War... 

Is there enough support for this to happen?
How might President Bush choose to strike? 
When might a war to topple Saddam happen?
How is Iraq involved in terrorism?
Is North Korea or Iran involved in terrorism?
How many innocent lives might be lost? 
How might the U.S. fair in a war against Iraq?

I do this as often as each week as I follow numerous press stories and histories.

View my timeline report.

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