Category: whimsy
Happy Friday!
Posted by – October 14, 2011
Anyone else remember Human Sexual Response or this song “Cool Jerk”? Nifty video I’d never seen before, too:
(You may remember their song “Jackie Onassis” instead.)
Have a lovely weekend. If you can, do try to make it to an Occupy Your Local City: Saturday the 15th should be a remarkable day all over the country. (I’ll be in Madison.)
No Worries About Westboro
Posted by – September 30, 2011
This amazing group has already been invited and will be doing the work of keeping Phelps and his gang away from the service.
What a relief, and the perfect response for Appleton.
The LGBTQ community can stay home.
No Gender for Social Security
Posted by – September 17, 2011
NCTE has been working on the bureauacratical mess within Social Security viz a viz gender markers. If you’ve noticed, there is no gender marker on your Social Security card, but somehow gender started getting added to people’s files anyway, & the category started to be used as a “no match” category – meaning that if the gender marker on someone’s SSN file didn’t match their current gender marker, they were sent a letter saying the two didn’t match and that additional documentation was needed. The SSN did this with other categories, too, such as date of birth, etc.
That all said, NCTE filed an FOI (Freedom of Information) claim:
The extent of the problem was made crystal clear when NCTE’s Freedom of Information Act request was answered showing 711,488 gender no-match letters were sent in 2010 alone. Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality says, “Ending this practice, which has endangered transgender people and our jobs, has been a priority for NCTE and we are pleased that the SSA has updated its policy.”
There’s a good article in The Miami Herald with more info, and the Social Security W-2 News Page has the official announcement.
Lawrence King Mistrial
Posted by – September 4, 2011
It is entirely fucked up that a mistrial was declared in the Lawrence King trial. A kid brings a gun to school and shoots another, unarmed kid for being feminine, and they couldn’t come to a decision on whether it was murder or manslaughter.
Jurors told Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell they were unable to reach a unanimous decision on the degree of Brandon McInerney’s guilt for killing 15-year-old Larry King. The nine-woman, three-man panel said they took a series of votes with the last one being seven in favor of voluntary manslaughter, while five others supported either first-degree or second-degree murder.
What complete goddamned horseshit. He threatened to kill him, and then he killed him. How on earth is that manslaughter?
Close Call
Posted by – August 26, 2011
This has nothing to do with gender or transness, but I loved it.
(because you know who did it first, ahem).
Trans Care & Medicare
Posted by – August 21, 2011
For those of you on Medicare who are seeking trans-related medical care, NCTE has created a document that can help guide you through what should be covered. Share it with your doctors.
Testing
Posted by – July 15, 2011
I’ve undone spam filters for a bit, so I’d love it if people who have had trouble in the past would try commenting here to see if they can post.
Thanks.
I’ll add back one of two eventually to see if it was one over-zealous filter or the other.
Am I Really Writing a Post about Bras? Well Yes I Am.
Posted by – June 26, 2011
Bras are actually the kind of thing I get asked about quite a lot because I work with women who weren’t dragged to Macy’s by mom the first time she noticed they had visible nipples, like I was. (Believe me, some things trans women should be thankful for.) I really like this queer guide to bras: great for butches, ladies with smaller breasts, and there are some useful lists, like this one on the kinds of bras it’s good to have in your possession:
1) A racerback (or convertible, which is good ’cause it also goes strapless in case tube tops come back)
2) For under white shirts, a bra that matches your skin tone
3) Regular black bra for everyday use
4) Sports bra for sports and/or gender panic
A blog post about bras that actually uses the term “gender panic”: excellent.
Similarly, she explains the differences between types of bra cups: Demi-Cup, Balconette, Contour Cup, Soft Cup, Padded, Push-Up, Minimizer, Molded Cups, Plunge. I’m partial to demis and Balconettes, myself. She mentions that they’re good for skinny girls, which is not exactly accurate: my feeling is that they’re better for certain kinds of breasts, but you’ll only know once you wear them. I find they’re sexy and create enough cleavage but not too much: I don’t wear pushups unless I need somewhere to rest my chin.
Happy Hipster Dad Day
Posted by – June 19, 2011
Happy Father’s Day, hipsters. Your dad did it before you ever could.
Gen X is getting OLD.
And of course a very happy Father’s Day to all the women I know who are dads.
Happy Birthday
Posted by – May 13, 2011
A very happy birthday to my lovely wife on her birthday. This is the 12th we’ve spent together, even though we met 13 years ago. (We only missed the 1st one!)
(We both love sharing a birthday with Little Stevie Wonder. For the record.)
Spring in Wisconsin
Posted by – April 21, 2011
I joked a month ago that in Wisconsin, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a pissed off bear, but I had no idea what was coming:
April 4: We Are One
Posted by – April 4, 2011
Today, the AFL-CIO is leading a national day of solidarity with Wisconsin workers and others in states whose rights and unions are being threatened. They’ve got a live feed of various events throughout the day. There’s a Twitter hashtag too, of course.
You can find a local gathering on their website, too.
Canine Fine Dining
Posted by – March 24, 2011
This is just too brilliant: surreal, funny, deeply human in some way that’s utterly bizarre:
Just genius: I can’t stop watching it.
WI Police Join the Protest
Posted by – February 26, 2011
The Police refuse to leave the capital building, citing the fact that they serve & protect the people of Wisconsin, not the governor only.
Goddamn.
Solidarnosc*!
Posted by – February 26, 2011
Wow. As someone who grew up pro union and Polish, this is really lovely news:
In a remarkable expression of international solidarity among working men and women, the president of Solidarnosc (“Solidarity”) – the Polish trade union whose determination and courage led to the fall of the Iron Curtain – has written an open letter in support of the public employees of Wisconsin.
Piotr Duda, president of Solidarnosc, said the 700,000 members of the Polish union wished “to express our solidarity and support for your struggle against the recent assault on trade unions and trade union rights unleashed by Governor Scott Walker.”
The letter is printed as a full-page advertisement (pdf) in today’s issue of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
How great is that? That, plus the news that the police are now sleeping in the capital building with the protesters: gorgeous.
* Yes, I know I’ve left off the correct accents. WordPress seems to be translating them. This is the closest I could get to the Polish spelling.
mHB Forums
Posted by – February 2, 2011
I’ve (maybe temporarily) re-opened registration for our community forums, the mHB message boards, so have at it if you’ve been wanting to join. We were having (may still have) a spam problem, but *fingers crossed*.
New Year’s Resolutions: Timeliness
Posted by – January 23, 2011
One of mine is apparently to ignore timeliness.
Still, here they are, mantras I’m repeating to myself, or orders I’m giving myself, in all their lovely glory:
- shut up & smile
- repeat my version of serenity prayer: changeable things / things i can’t change / leave it be
- it’s not about you
- breathe out, smiling
So what kinds of things do you say to yourself to keep from banging your head against the wall?
More Desk Ergonomics
Posted by – January 9, 2011
Here’s a cool little website that allows you to put in your height and then it gives you all the measurements you need for an ergonomic desk setup: from floor to seat, from eyes to monitor, keyboard to floor, etc,, AND it’s good for standing or sitting desks, & even takes bifocals into account!
