April is Autism Awareness Month: How you can help!

 Autism Facts!

Autism now affects 1 in 88 children and 1 in 54 boys

Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.

Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism

Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases

As you can see these are just a few facts that you may of not known about.   I got these facts from Autismspeaks.org.  

I went to a meeting this weekend and I saw a young girl who I knew had something wrong with her.   I couldn’t know for sure.   I know the father very well he is in my international Club, Starfleet Command.   I even know he does a great Fundrasing event for the month of April!  We discussed this in lengths and he told me about how much money he is looking to raise.  I told him, everything is possible to possibly help his Daughter and help others who might need the help with Autism.  So I am wanted to share a few resources and places you can go to help with Donating your money or showing support for the cause!

http://www.trektoy.com — does a great job at making an effort and giving people a chance to give out some really nice prop gifts from the movies and shows of Star Trek!  The Owner I know, and you now know him!

Cafepress — has two ways you can raise awareness and/donate to the cause.   You can buy the Autism Gift ideas T-shirts, and items .  You can always buy Starfleet Command and Star Trek items (ALL profits from the sales at this store are donated to Autism research) from our Cafepress page.  

Amazon — Has some great ways to show awareness to your community about either your child or someone you may know.   Most of the items are really cheap.   From Magnets for your car to wrist bracelets! If you are trying to learn more about Autism, You can find some great books about Autism and Asperger Syndrome on Amazon also.

What is Autism?

I am sure before I leave I have a few people ask me this question.   So I will answer it now:

Autism is a developmental disorder that appears in the first 3 years of life, and affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills.

You can find out more about it from the National Library of Medicine.  I want to help my friend fundraise and thus this post is to help him get more people to donate items and money to his cause.   Please consider donating an item or donating money for his cause.   

Thank You!

Paul Sylvester

First Look At Star Trek Online

star_trek_online_1st.jpg

The official Star Trek Online forums were host to a visual treat for fans yesterday, as Perpetual Entertainment’s Mike Stemmle presented the first real screenshot of the MMO. The story lead explained, in detail, STO‘s Interaction System which “controls every non-combat, player-to-NPC interaction in the game.” Whether you’re negotiating with alien species, beaming from ship to shore or responding to distress calls, the Interaction System is where you’ll be pointing and clicking your mouse. That rather mundane stuff is hard to read when one’s picking about the minutiae of a screencap featuring an alien ambassador of (personally) unknown origin. Sure, it may look more Voyager than TOS, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have fun going where no MMO player has gone before.

An even bigger, better pic awaits you at the official forums.

STO DevLog 5.0 – “Interactions in Action” [Star Trek Online via Shacknews]

[Via Kataku]

Man I think I’ll have to try that game out when it comes on either a demo or I might just buy it.