AC360 - The 'Sissy Boy' Experiment

There's rather more on George Rekers in various posts on this blog over the last few years.

His attitude towards inconvenient facts is summarised below, from The Christian World View of Psychology and Counseling:

6. Scientific Method

We affirm that the scientific method is useful in carrying out the creation mandate of Genesis 1:28 to subdue and have dominion over creation when the investigators have Biblical presuppositions and when the Bible does not directly give us the answers we seek; that the use of the scientific method is entirely controlled by the presuppositions of the investigators and therefore the results are a pronouncement of faith rather than of scientific fact; and that the faith nature of the results of scientific investigation is evidenced by the investigators' proselytizing intent, that is, their attempt to transform man into their idea of what man should be. We deny that the scientific method can ever be applied in psychology without its being thoroughly determined by the presuppositions of the investigators.

And this is the resulr.

Similar, though far less harsh, methods are used by Dr Zucker in CAMH in Toronto. Her realises that he can;t "pray away the Gay", but he does claim he can "pray away the Trans", with only 15% of gender nonconformant kids ending up being Trans not Gay. "Gender Nonconformant" means exactly that, in most the degree is mild. They're not Trans in the first place.

As for George Rekers? From his website:

He earned his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, his M.B.A. in executive management from Southern Wesleyan University, and his Doctor of Theology (Th.D.) degree from the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of South Africa.

Dr. Rekers has delivered many invited research presentations on child and family variables before committees of the United States Senate and House of Representatives, and has served as an invited expert for White House staff and several presidential cabinet agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services.

He has delivered over two hundred invited lectures in universities and academic societies in dozens of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and in Western and Eastern Europe.

Professor George served as one of the multidisciplinary experts for the legal team that successfully defended the state of Florida’s law prohibiting adoption of children by homosexually-behaving individuals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case Lofton v. Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services.

Dr. Rekers is a past recipient of the NARTH Sigmund Freud Award for his research contributions on child gender identity disorder.

His work is still being cited as bona fide by Vanguard University's Psychology Department in their Parenting section. It is, after all, a Christian University.

HOW many sexes?

A comment on Billions of Sexes (Part 1) by Martine Rothblatt, on the Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies site

I differ from the author only on emphasis, and degree. However, these differences have important effects.

Let's start with the idea that there are male and female brains. They differ anatomically, and these differences correspond to different stereotyped behaviours, regardless of upbringing. This is most obvious in girls who have CAH, masculinised brains, and a male preference in play patterns, even though they have a normal female upbringing.

Now that we've established that idea, that it's objectively observable.. we have to tear it down. It's just the first step in Wittgenstein's ladder.

The brain is a complex structure, not a simple one. Any particular individual can have a more masculine anatomy in one area, a more feminine anatomy in others. The sexually dimorphic features have considerable overlap. Within any one area, few are unambiguously male or unambiguously female. The difference is statistical. Moreover, in the higher brain, hormonal balance plays a role in changing the brain's physical anatomy. Treat a male with female hormones, some of his brain structures will feminise. The brain is plastic in many areas, experiences and social environment causes physical changes, and much of what we call "gendered behaviour" is as the result of arbitrary socially constructed factors.

OK, understood that? Now discard it, it's the second step on the ladder.

The brain is not homogenous; different parts have different effects, and while some parts are plastic, others are not. While much "gendered behaviour" is a social construct, some is not, and is remarkably resistant to change. This is most obvious in Transsexual people, whose neuro-anatomy is female in some areas, male in others, and corresponds to neither in yet others. When the Lymbic nucleus is feminised, typically feminine emotional patterns are found, and these lead to a feminine gender identity. When the Superior Parietal Lobule (SPL) is feminised as well - as it often is - the "body map" is for female primary and secondary sex characteristics - breasts, vagina etc - and any mismatch with reality causes immense distress.

This also explains such observed phenomena as "phantom limb syndrome", and the widely variable emotional response to hysterectomy or mastectomy. Also too the variable response to any natural masculinisation of a female-at-birth body due to 5ARD or 17BHSD syndromes, which can cause a superficial "natural sex change".

What this means is that a binary model of sex and gender is merely a rough approximation. A better one is a trinary one, with male, female, and bigendered (approximately 1/3 in each category). But that still doesn't capture the multi-variance and fuzziness of the situation adequately. A small percentage won't fit either model, or indeed, any such gross over-simplification.

References (to substantiate my assertions):

Sexual differentiation of the human brain: relevance for gender identity, transsexualism and sexual orientation. Swaab Gynecol Endocrinol (2004) 19:301–312.

White matter microstructure in female to male transsexuals before cross-sex hormonal treatment. A diffusion tensor imaging study. - Rametti et al, J Psychiatr Res. 2010 Jun 8.

Prenatal hormones versus postnatal socialization by parents as determinants of male-typical toy play in girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia” Pasterski VL, Geffner ME, Brain C, Hindmarsh P, Brook C, Hines M Child Dev 76(1):264-78 2005

Changing your sex changes your brain: influences of testosterone and estrogen on adult human brain structure by Pol et al, Europ Jnl Endocrinology, Vol 155, suppl_1, S107-S114 2006

Biased-Interaction Theory of Psychosexual Development: “How Does One Know if One is Male or Female?” M.Diamond Sex Roles (2006) 55:589–600

Gender change in 46,XY persons with 5alpha-reductase-2 deficiency and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-3 deficiency. Cohen-Kettenis PT. Arch Sex Behav. 2005 Aug;34(4):399-410.

I'm including this as a post because it summarises and encapsulates my conclusions so far. It's a bit more complex than this, but the 3 steps on Wittgenstein's ladder are enough.

Send Money. Send Lots of Money

From Christian Newswire:

"Christians are called to unite the GOP with Rick Santorum. This is because the Bible says that Mitt Romney opposes Jesus Christ and Christians. Romney is against everything the USA was founded upon," says pastor Steven Andrew, president of USA Christian Ministries.

"God promises to fix the economy if we vote for mature Christians (Exodus 18:21)," he adds. "God says that the economy declined for taking God out of government, 53-plus million abortions and homosexual sins," explains the pastor, who is also author of "Making A Strong Christian Nation."

"Christians understand God controls the economy because He says so in 2Chronicles 7:13-14. Do you believe God? He sends prosperity for obedience and famine for sins (Deuteronomy 28, Nehemiah 9:32-38, Leviticus 26)," he adds.

"God says Mormons are accursed. We don't want someone accursed in the White House," he adds. Galatians 1:9 says, "…if anyone preaches any other gospel…let him be accursed."
...
"God's issues or 'social issues' are the most important election issues because God rewards nations who obey Him", the author explains in "Making A Strong Christian Nation".

USA Christian Ministries is raising money to build a network of 1000 pastors to pastor the USA and a national TV program. To support this important outreach, see: www.usachristianministries.com/partner



But of course these are just a vocal minority, they couldn't possibly have significant influence in politics...



Yeah, Right.

Dear 15 year old me...

From Dear 15 year old me - how you can help.

If you are a LGBT adult, write a letter to yourself, but write it to the person you were when you were 15 years old. If you could go back to the kid you were then, what would you say? What advice would you give for surviving this time?

Dear 15 year old me

I can do nothing for you, the 15 yr old girl that I was, silently sobbing in your bedroom. Back when you are, in 1973, I know your parents wouldn't understand. I know from here in 2012 (though you don't, and perhaps that's for the best) that if you let your secret out, the standard treatment in your time is electroshock therapy, sometimes even lobotomy, cutting out pieces of your brain, so best keep quiet.

I can do nothing for you. But I can do something for all the girls like you that exist in my time. Knowing me, knowing you, the girl I was, I think that will make you smile amidst your tears. It's how I sooth the hurt that you're feeling, easing the path of others.

And you know what? It will take a long time I'm afraid, but you'll live happily ever after too, as they will. We have a better understanding now. We have something called the Internet, linking all the computers in the world - and every home has at least one now - to share information. The surgery is far better, the knowledge of hormones more extensive. We can't give girls like you the ability to have babies, not yet, but that's coming too. Too late for you - for us - but perhaps not too late for them.

It's no easier for other girls at 15 than it is for you, back in 1973, stuck with a male body that feels so terribly, fundamentally WRONG. But there is hope for them, as there doesn't appear to be for you, when you are. Well, after living for so many years, hoping even when there is no hope, you get to win anyway, to be yourself. You will learn what the word "happiness" means. It will be better than you can imagine, better than your wildest dreams. Against all the odds, you get to live happily ever after.

You have many years of hell in front of you. Far too many. But you get out anyway.

Today, in 2012, girls like you don't have to endure nearly so long. If they can endure, just for another thousand days, there will be help available for them. No child should have to endure what you are destined to endure, but you get through it. No child should have to endure even 1000 days of it, nor 1000 seconds for that matter. They do have to though, at the moment. It's changing, getting better, and I think in my - in our - lifetime, we'll see an end to it. The issue will be recognised earlier, and social acceptance of the obvious treatment will become unremarkable. That day is not here yet, which is why we, you and I, have to help them.

You and I just have to show the girls of 2012 who are your age, that there is hope. That it does get better, and by the time they're 25, their lives will be not much different from other girls their age. That's not some impossible dream, not just a possibility, it's an inevitability, if they just hang on. Meanwhile, they must lay the foundations of their future life, do well at school, be ready to make a fantastic success of life, and not fall into the traps of drug abuse or throwing away a life that at the moment seems worthless. We must show them that they must plan ahead, for the better times to come for them.

They may end up marrying boys, and having a family together. Or marrying girls for that matter - we've come a long way in understanding sexuality since 1973, and same-sex partnerships, while unusual, aren't regarded as unthinkable as they are when you are.

Dear 15 year old me, feeling so isolated and alone, back in 1973 you don't know that there are many like you. Boys and girls, born with the wrong-sexed bodies. Yes, there are boys too, born with female anatomy, and it's just as horrid for them as it is for girls born with male anatomy. Now in 2012, we do know though, and are doing something about it. There's still plenty of bullying (and worse than bullying) in schools, and not just from other kids. That's getting better though too. The trouble is, that's little consolation for all the 15 year old boys and girls subject to it today in 2012, so we have to show them that others have made it, and they can too. That it gets better, and not in ten or twenty years, but in just a few. That they should be busy preparing for that day.

I hope I've made you smile, dear 15 year old me. You get to be quite a woman, you know? You use the pain you're feeling now as an energy, to help others just like you, transmuting it into compassion. Writing letters like this one.

Love, and Hugs,
Zoe

p.s. I know you picked the name "Zoe" five years ago, and that you've never told anyone else. You won't for some time, but it fits you. If you recall your Ancient Greek, it means "Life".

Three views on Trans Children

Interview with Dr. Milton Diamond: research.cristanwilliams.com

They don't make it easy

Testosterone ampules, vital for Trans mens' health (if only to stop their bones getting brittle) has been quietly de-listed from the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), resulting in a quadrupling in price, and ten times the price for those on low incomes with a Health Care card, entitling them to reduced costs on PBS medications.

Apparently it may be because Transsexuality isn't considered to exist as far as the Dept of Health is concerned (there are no drugs on the PBS for treating it), and for non-Trans and non-Intersex men, other alternatives are available. Intersex they're clueless about, and they apparently don't realise what a catastrophic effect this will have on Trans and Intersex mens' health.

This is suspiciously coincidental with the UK National Health Service (NHS) recently putting Testosterone on the "Red List" - meaning it can no longer be prescribed for Trans men (only non-Trans and non-Intersex) by GPs. They have to now obtain the scripts from specialised Gender Clinics - who have no budget for them, so can't provide them. Testosterone has thus been effectively de-listed in the UK too. This follows on from the UK NHS delisting of estrogen implants, which led to the last commercial manufacturer left in the world ceasing to make them last year. That too was based on substitutes being available for everyone except Trans and Intersex women.

Religious Dogma based on Scientific Ignorance

"The Earth is Flat, therefore it's OK to be cruel"

That's what the article Restricting Activities of Transgender Church Member | Ask Our Experts | Church Safety says, in effect.

Chromosomes are the structures on which the genes are carried, which, in turn, are the mechanism by which hereditary characteristics are transmitted from parents to off-spring. An individual normally has 23 pairs of chromosomes in his or her body cells; one of each pair being derived from each parent. One pair of chromosomes is known to determine an individual's sex. The biological sexual constitution of an individual is fixed at birth (at the latest), and cannot be changed, either by the natural development of organs of the opposite sex, or by medical or surgical means. As a result, a sex change operation cannot affect a person's true sex.

Taking things one at a time:
One pair of chromosomes is known to determine an individual's sex.
Counterexample: J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan;93(1):182-9

A 46,XY mother who developed as a normal woman underwent spontaneous puberty, reached menarche, menstruated regularly, experienced two unassisted pregnancies, and gave birth to a 46,XY daughter with complete gonadal dysgenesis.

The biological sexual constitution of an individual is fixed at birth (at the latest)
Counterexamples : Bone marrow-derived cells from male donors can compose endometrial glands in female transplant recipients by Ikoma et al in Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2009 Dec;201(6):608.e1-8 & Transplanted human bone marrow cells generate new brain cells by Crain BJ, Tran SD, Mezey E. in J Neurol Sci. 2005 Jun 15;233(1-2):121-3 :
These show that a bone-marrow transplant recipient's entire bodies gradually become genetically identical to that of the donor due to cell turnover. Even the brain. Even the reproductive glands.

The biological sexual constitution of an individual... cannot be changed... by the natural development of organs of the opposite sex
Counterexample : Imperato-McGinley J, Guerrero L, Gautier T, Peterson RE. Steroid 5alpha-reductase deficiency in man: an inherited form of male pseudohermaphroditism. Science 1974 Dec 27; 186 (4170): 1213-5

In an isolated village of the southwestern Dominican Republic, 2% of the live births were in the 1970's, guevedoces (actually male pseudohermaphrodites). These children appeared to be girls at birth, but at puberty these 'girls' sprout muscles, testes, and a penis. For the rest of their lives they are men in nearly all respects. Their underlying pathology was found to be a deficiency of the enzyme, 5-alpha Reductase.

The original question:
A man who has surgically changed his gender to a woman is active in our women's ministry activities. Church leaders are increasingly uncomfortable with this arrangement because most of the women in the church are not aware of this person's true gender. Could we be exposed to legal risk by restricting—or even excluding—this person from women's ministry activities?

"This person makes us feel uncomfortable - can we safely shun and exclude them"? The "Church Leaders", not the congregation, are looking for an excuse. A perfect example of Lack of Charity.

1 Corinthians 13:2
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

Children and Adolescents With Gender Identity Disorder Referred to a Pediatric Medical Center

Children and Adolescents With Gender Identity Disorder Referred to a Pediatric Medical Center, Spack et al, Pediatrics. 2012 Feb 20

After establishment of a multidisciplinary gender clinic, the gender identity disorder population increased fourfold. Complex clinical presentations required additional mental health support as the patient population grew. Mean age and Tanner Stage were too advanced for pubertal suppressive therapy to be an affordable option for most patients. Two-thirds of patients were started on cross-sex hormone therapy. Greater awareness of the benefit of early medical intervention is needed. Psychological and physical effects of pubertal suppression and/or cross-sex hormones in our patients require further investigation.

This is the first study of a US cohort of children and adolescents with gender identity disorder.

And that is significant. Think about it. Until now, this was too "controversial" to do research on. There was no funding for it. All of the research until now has been in Europe, Australia, Canada, in fact everywhere except the USA.

SUBMISSION ON THE MARRIAGE EQUALITY AMENDMENT BILL 2010

SUBMISSION ON THE MARRIAGE EQUALITY AMENDMENT BILL 2010

Dear Committee Secretary,

I'm already in a legal same-sex marriage. We celebrated our 31st anniversary yesterday.

We married in 1981. In 1985 I was diagnosed at a Fertility Clinic as Intersex - thought to be male. My birth certificate says "boy", and I was legally male when married.

In 2005, after my body changed, I was re-diagnosed more accurately with "severe androgenisation of a non-pregnant woman". I am now legally female.

I have a letter from the former Attorney General, the Hon. Peter Ruddock, confirming that as our marriage was valid when contracted, subsequent changes of circumstances do not affect its validity.

While such natural changes are rare - less than 100 in Australia - they happen. More common are Transsexual transitions, which require medical intervention.

Some of us are married. A few of the stronger marriages survive, despite the enormous societal, social and personal pressures to end them.

Same-sex marriages exist, and have existed for decades. Society has not collapsed. Children of those marriages continue to grow up, indistinguishable from other children their age.

Marriage equality will be made available to all, sooner or later. So please, in the name of sheer human decency and common humanity, let it be sooner.

To make your own submission - for or against - please fill in the http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/senate-inquiry-submission-form/.

In case you're wondering....

Just gave my first lecture of the year today. And got reminded of just how much I enjoy teaching!

Pubertal blockade safe for pediatric patients with gender identity disorder

Pubertal blockade safe for pediatric patients with gender identity disorder

Pubertal blockade can safely be initiated in pediatric patients who experience gender identity disorder, according to researchers at the Canadian Pediatric Endocrine Group 2012 Meeting. With exposure to hormones such as estrogen or testosterone later in their adolescence, these patients will experience normal metabolic processes.

“If kids are persisting at puberty (My emphasis - ZEB) [about the need to be the other gender], they will almost always persist,” said Daniel Metzger, MD, FRCPC, a pediatric endocrinologist at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and a clinical professor, division of endocrinology in the department of pediatrics, University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Metzger spoke about the endocrine management of transgender youth and said pediatric patients who experience gender identity disorder require watchful management to reduce the risks for suicidality, depression, drug use and eating disorders, which are often secondary to gender identity disorder.

“These issues are frequently dealt with if patients can get on the road to transition,” Metzger said, noting that parental support is key in making the transition smooth.

Patients will undergo counseling and therapy if they express a desire to transition from male to female or female to male to ensure they are serious about their desire, he said.

“The effect of the puberty-blocking drugs is reversible,” Metzger said. “If they change their mind, they would come off the (puberty-blocking) drugs and enter puberty.”

Although pubertal blockade, such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, puts bone and mineral status on hold, youths can resume the process of building bone once they are exposed to estrogen or testosterone, Metzger said.

In response to Metzger’s presentation, Norman Spack, MD, an associate in endocrinology and co-director of the Gender Management Service Clinic at Children’s Hospital Boston, said not treating youths with gender identity disorder is beginning to be thought of as disregard for the Hippocratic Oath. Spack co-wrote guidelines on treating gender identity disorder published by the Endocrine Society in 2009.

“[These patients] often harm themselves if they are not treated because they are clearly in the wrong body,” Spack said. “The younger generation (of endocrinologists) who have grown up with gender-variant people is seeing this as a disregard for a human right.”

In addition, pediatric patients are continually being psychologically tested to affirm their choice because the administration of sex steroids will not produce effects that can be reversed, Spack said.

“It is not reversible when you do a hormonal flip and give boys estrogen and girls testosterone,” he said. “The Dutch experience has demonstrated that pubertal blockade does not preclude the ability of youths to have normal bone density.”

Reference : Metzger D. The endocrine management of transgender youth. Presented at: the Canadian Pediatric Endocrine Group 2012 Scientific Meeting; Feb. 9-11, 2012; Winnipeg, MB, Canada. (Link to article will be included when I can get it)

Finally, endocrinologists have plucked up the courage to state in public what until now they've only said in private. I (and they themselves) expect them to be pilloried for it of course, but lives are at stake.

Two Similar Cases

Letter to White House health conference organizers | THE INTERSEX NETWORK

Why did I want to attend this conference? I have never self-identified as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual, so what is my interest in this White House LGBT Conference on Health? It is because during my life as a late-virilizing intersex person, I have been misunderstood as, and persecuted as, at various times a lesbian, gay man, bisexual and transsexual.

I have had to fight to get a legal presence and a birth certificate that is congruent with my adult naturally-virilized masculine gender. My entire life has been one great battle just to be myself because there is no legal recognition for the millions of intersex people like me in this great country of ours! There is no recognition of the existence of intersex people even in the email sent to me about this LGBT conference!

See the 1982 Royal Nepalese Press Photo of me at the top of this letter. I am the taller bearded man near the center of the picture. Do I look like a normal woman to you? I was born looking like a normal baby girl but by the time I was a young adult my body had self-virilized, becoming hirsute and phallic. This natural late-virilizing intersex change was welcomed by me, because I always thought of myself as male and started calling myself David at the age of nine.

He went the other way. I still haven't been able to get my UK Birth Certificate corrected. But I've had fewer problems overall.

He chose the name "David" at age 9. I chose the name "Zoe" at age 10.

Like him, I've been called at various times a lesbian, gay man, and transsexual, often all three at the same time by the same person. The only one I identify with is the last, as it seems to me there's no essential difference between a natural or therapeutically-induced transition. He doesn't identify as Trans, I do, sorta, almost, even though it's not technically true. No matter.

What matters to me more is a court case a little less than two years before I was married.

In the marriage of C and D (falsely called C). (1979) 35 FLR 340 (1979) 5 FamLR 636 (1979) 28 ALR 524.

The circumstances here are more similar to my own, or at least, similar to my own in 1979. The Husband's condition was CAH (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia) , presumably due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. My own is CAH, due to 3β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency (we think). Symptoms differ in detail, but are similar. I looked more male in some respects, he looked more male in others.

Now on to the judgement about this person's marriage.

The wife was contemplating immediately prior to marriage and did in fact believe that she was marrying a male. She did not in fact marry a male but a combination of both male and female, notwithstanding the fact that the husband exhibited as a male;
...
... marriage, according to law in Australia, is "the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life."
...
I am satisfied on the evidence that the husband was neither man nor woman but was a combination of both, and a marriage in the true sense of the word as within the definition referred to above could not have taken place and does not exist.

The circumstances of this marriage and ours are sufficiently similar that they are legally indistinguishable. I knew a bit less about my situation than he did, my severe abdominal pains happened at 22 as well though, and I still have the scar from bikini-line to breastbone from the surgery that cured it. But I wasn't told anything other than that my gallbladder and "anomalous tissue" had been removed for biopsy.

There is one crucial, and fundamental difference though. That marriage lasted 11 years, but was essentially dead before certified as non-existent by the court.

We've been married 31 years less a few days, and are still as much in love as we ever were. To legally nullify our marriage, we, and no-one else, would have to petition the Family Court, no-one can do that to us.

I still bawled my eves out when I read this case. Because the Judge was correct in his decision. I wasn't male, not in 1979, nor 1981, I just looked like it. Mostly. For most purposes I can be considered Trans, but not here, not for this one.

Whether the Law recognises our partnership is in the most important ways, irrelevant. We are married.

Dr Veronica Drantz' Presentation on Intersex

Intersex people

View more PowerPoint from Veronica Drantz

Coming Up For Air

Things are starting to stabilise, and next week I resume teaching. My Mother In Law has made a very good cognitive recovery, but there's still months of physiotherapy ahead so she can walk again unaided.

I've had time to de-stress a little, and unless another crisis appears, will be back to blogging regularly again soon. I hope. Remembering what happened the last time I said that.

As a change of pace, a tidbit from history I've been using to keep my mind refreshed and relaxed, ready for whatever Joker I get in Life's next hand. And now for something completely different. The markings on Austra-Hungarian aircraft in 1918.

This represents preprinted fabric from J. Backhausen & Söhne (sons) for the Oeffag factory and applied to the wings and horizontal tail unit of four late production 153. & about 1/3 of all the 253. series Albatros D type machines.

Further research shows that it was silk-screened, not printed (the rollers of the time weren't up to it); that there were two layers, one brown, one green, on a base fabric that could be any colour from light beige (undyed) to mustard-yellow; and that the registration was deliberately coarse, to give the effect of dark areas around the edges.

This was the effect, as near as we can determine from the black-and-white photos and a sample of the fabric that has survived:



This aircraft, "Number Six", Oeffag Albatros D.III 253-64, is shown in the picture below.



The fuselage is varnished plywood, a strip of "sworl" cloth glued on the top and covered with dope/varnish, and all wing and tail surfaces composed of this cloth.

The aircraft was usually piloted by Friedrich Hefty of the Flik 42J fighter squadron.

253.64 Albatros D.III (Oef) Flik 42J Friedrich Hefty

Hefty was wounded in the right foot by Italian anti-aircraft fire on 7 October 1915. He transferred to Flik 42J in the Isonzo sector of the Italian front in October 1917, scoring his second victory during the Battle of Caporetto. During 1918, Hefty formed a strong friendship with fellow pilots Johann Risztics and Ferdinand Udvardy. Amongst the airmen of Flik 42J, the trio became known as the Arany Triumviratus (Golden Triumvirate).

Hefty began marking the sides of his Albatros D.III with the number "6."

This particular aircraft was flown by Friedrich Hefty of Flik 42J, and it was forced down August 28th 1918 when being flown by Geza Keisz.

Doing this research on such an obscure topic hones my skills in wading through legal and medical databases, in search for clues in the Science of Sex and Gender.

But I also need to do some meditation, giving my motor skills some exercise, while the higher brain-functions relax and just exist. "Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits". Sometimes it helps not to be self-aware of what one is doing, to let the unconscious mind take over for a while. The result? A model in 1/144 scale, 5.01cm (just under 2 inches) long.

The Best Laid Plans

My mother-in-law is gravely ill at the moment. I've been too busy at the hospital to blog - or do much of anything else. More later when things aren't so uncertain.

Yes, such people exist

From a comment on gay marriage:

You should be changed completely to the gender in which you have more chemicals in your body. So if you have 60% male and 40% female chemicals, you should be changed totally to a male.

Transsexuals do not count as people.

Other gems from the same "person" :

...you have no right to talk. If you do not believe in a superior being in some capacity, then you are completely retarded.
...
The government should have the power to enforce common religious dogma on its citizens.
...

Prejudice and Reality

From MassResistance: Barney Frank's Transsexual in 2008.

Our Massachusetts horror, Rep. Barney Frank, doesn't stop at homosexual activism. He's long been pushing for a federal ENDA law banning discrimination on the basis of "gender identity or expression". Now he's appointed this woman...

...transsexual Diego Sanchez, to his Washington staff. Sanchez made news in 2008 as the first transsexual to serve on the Democrat Party platform committee.

This guy has to be female you see, to conform to their version of Reality.


This is the first post of the new year. I have over 100 draft articles, mostly from the last 2 months, that I haven't had time to polish up and post. So I'm going through them (this one's 3 years old) and those that only need a little work will get published, one every day. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to regular blogging in about a month.

Meanwhile - Happy New Year.

For Andrew

I was only a little older than he is now, when I was at this concert.

It's time.

This makes the case far clearer than mere words can. It's time.

The Meaning of Christmas

From a mailing list I'm on.

In the last 24-36 hours, I've seen our community come together from different parts of the world to help one of our own, and I am truly thankful.

Long story short, an 18 year old trans girl, kicked out by her parents, was unsafe and on the streets of a small town in Kentucky. No food, no money, no phone, no friends. She was able to borrow a computer long enough to contact me through email, and what I can only call a blessing began to unfold.

Through the power of Facebook and online networking, people from all over, including the UK & Mexico, came together to get this young gal onto a Greyhound bus, and enough food & beverages at various bus stops along the way to make it through to Phoenix where she will arrive in the early morning hours tonight to live at H.O.P.E. House.

This is not the first time we've brought someone to Phoenix on a Greyhound, nor even the first time we've had people help us; in the past it was with donations to pay for her bus ticket. This time, however, people stepped up and gave their time and energy to continue networking until contact could be made with the girl to get her something to eat during the trip at stops along the way.

So many of us lose our families and friends simply because we are trans. We reach out to our only true family, our "Chosen Family" - other trans men and women who are there to help support us and give us faith.

Thank you to everyone who has been, and continues to be through today, involved in making this journey to Phoenix a very special one. Thank you for stepping up and being there for someone in need. You are ALL AWESOME!

TransMentors International will continue to help trans men, women and youth for as long as there's a need. We provide emergency assistance, safe housing, mentoring, support, and resource referrals/connections. Your donations help make it possible. You can donate through our Cause page, our website, or even monthly through your checking account.

Contact me if you want to become involved in TransMentors International at michaelb@transmentors.org

TransMentors International Inc.
2942 N. 24th Street, Suite #114-337
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Phone: 877-366-3888
Fax: 866-755-2514

Facebook Page


OK, so Christmas has come a little early this year. And you don't have to be Christian to take part. Nor Trans for that matter. Merely Human. Moving the mountain one teaspoonful at a time.

Urogenital sinus

Adrenogenital syndrome showing masculinization of the lower urogenital tract as seen on VCUG.

Urogenital sinus, the most common appearance of the lower urogenital tract in adrenogenital syndrome. A well-developed vagina with a well-defined impression of the uterine cervix on the vaginal vault (arrow) joins the distal end of the urethra to form a long common sinus tract (urogenital sinus) that ends in the perineum at the base of a prominent phallus. Barium paste was applied on the perineum to show the distance between the vagina and perineum.

Source

Might explain a few things. Anomalous events when I was 14. Or might not - the ultrasounds are invonclusive.

Oh, USA

UC Davis, California, 2011



Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

TDOR 2011

The Transgender Day Of Remembrance, November 20th.



I have been so very, very fortunate. Looking back on the TS and IS people around the world I have corresponded with - some of them on TDOR lists of the slain - I'm reminded that I've had it so much easier than every one of them that I can think of.

From those to who much is given, much is expected. Amidst the tears of grief - muted this year for, unlike some past years, I don't know any of the victims personally - I dedicate myself to continuing the battle, in blogs, in newspapers, in articles, on TV programs, on political and religious and academic and social sites, on the scatological UK Army Rumour Service NAAFI bar and the genteel Catholic Quarterly, in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Nashua Telegraph, in the Malta Times and UK Guardian, everywhere I can.

It's not much. But it's something.

The full list for this year is over 200 names in length.

Evolution, Gravity, Maths and Miss America 2011

Just Because

Another Step in the Long March to the Moon - and Beyond

From Popular Mechanics : China’s Space Docking: What Does It Mean?:

On Tuesday, Nov. 1., China launched the Shenzhou-8 space capsule into the same orbital plane as its Tiangong-1 prototype space station. Over the course of several Earth orbits, the capsule performed a rendezvous maneuver and slowly caught up to the space station. Eventually, when it got close enough, Shenzhou-8 made some final burns to precisely match its velocity and location with the Tiangong-1, and the two spacecraft docked, temporarily becoming one. It was the first successful space docking in China’s history.

As milestones go, this could be seen as a small one. After all, China merely performed a feat that Americans achieved more than 45 years earlier (and its space station is about the size of the Salyut 1 Russia flew about 40 years ago). There was a key difference, though: While the first American docking was with a manned Gemini capsule and an unmanned Agena upper stage, the Chinese performed the entire operation with unmanned spacecraft—a feat that the U.S. had never actually performed until recently, and a tribute to the intervening decades of technological development. The question now is: What does China’s recent success say about its goals in space?

Read the whole thing for their answer, but I think it's pretty obvious. This was the next step to a lunar colony. There are many more. Progress isn't being rushed, this isn't a botched job, it's a firm foundation.

As I wrote this time last year about the "Chinese Tortoise" :

Not a new species; a description of the robust and long-term space program that China is quietly executing. One that means that the next human to land on the Moon will speak Mandarin - as will the first Lunar colonists.
...
This isn't a space exploration program for prestige purposes.

It's about sustainability.
It's about the long term.
It involves a commitment.
It refuses to take short cuts to meet artificial deadlines.

All the things that are lacking in the US space program.

As for the Chinese? They're right on schedule.

OII(Australia) on Homophobia

OII Australia (Organisation Intersex International - Australia) nails it with a very perceptive comment:

The fear of homosexuality, homophobia, is the prime motivation for the worldwide persecution of intersex people. In a remarkable feat of fact-free magical thinking, we are perceived as somehow being born intrinsically homosexual. We are not, but popular belief is seldom trumped by reality and so the intersex fetus abortions, intersex infanticides, intersex genital mutilations (IGM) and refusal of fundamental human rights continue unabated.

I've been accused of being a gay man, and a lesbian woman - sometimes at the same time - by the same people. The contradiction escapes them, logic tends not to be the strong suit of homophobes. Many don't know what "Intersex" means, even if you patiently explain it to them, with references. A few don't believe it can exist, that like Evil-ution, it's all a giant anti-Christian conspiracy by (quite possibly demonically possessed) "scientists", who they view as The Adversary. Well, in some ways they're right, as Rationality is contrary to their beliefs. "Fact-free magical thinking" describes their superstitions perfectly. Others of course, the majority, are merely religious. Their beliefs are based on faith, yet not impervious to facts and rational argument. They, not being Fanatics, often have their voices of reason drowned out by the True Believers - those so sure that God is on their side, that they don't think it's necessary to ask themselves whether they're on His. Whether God is a literal Deity, or the mystical "Forces of History".

Belief in an invisible Sky Policeman is not in itself a bad or harmful thing. It all too often leads to beliefs in whole pantheons of supernatural beings though, demons and devils and evil spirits.

Here's an example:

In other words, the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture's account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God's handiwork.

Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God. Applying this aspect of Catholic belief to interpret the scientific data makes more sense because it does not place God in the awkward position of blessing two mutually incompatible realities -- sexual difference and same-sex attraction.

Trying to reconcile Catholic Belief with Scientific Evidence often gets people into trouble - just ask Galileo. He's since been forced to retract his article and issue a Mea Culpa.

"Statements made in my column, 'Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction' of October 28, do not represent the position of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the column was not authorized for publication as is required policy for staff of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The teaching of Sacred Scripture and of the Catechism of the Catholic Church make it clear that all persons are created in the image and likeness of God and have inviolable dignity. Likewise, the Church proclaims the sanctity of marriage as the permanent, faithful, fruitful union of one man and one woman. The Church opposes, as I do too, all unjust discrimination and the violence against persons that unjust discrimination inspires. I deeply apologize for the hurt and confusion that this column has caused."

Just (as opposed to Unjust) discrimination is fine though - and the USCCB have decided that discrimination against Trans and Intersex people is just fine. As they've stated in writing.

At least he made a Good Faith attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable; superstition and reality. The problem is, by invoking the Work of the Devil as being responsible, the next step is all too easy. Inevitable really. The belief that some are possessed, or the spawn of the Devil, not really human at all. Thus witchsmelling and charlatanry, persecution of the different, and all manner of barbarities.

The USCCB appear to have recognised that, and pulled him up short. At least, I hope that's what they did. I try to think the best of people.

The Journal of Chemical Physics

Not to be confused with the Journal of Physical Chemistry of course..
Optimization of a genetic algorithm for searching molecular conformer space Zoe E. Brain and Matthew A. Addicoat J. Chem. Phys. 135, 174106 (2011)

We present two sets of tunings that are broadly applicable to conformer searches of isolated molecules using a genetic algorithm (GA). In order to find the most efficient tunings for the GA, a second GA – a meta-genetic algorithm – was used to tune the first genetic algorithm to reliably find the already known a priori correct answer with minimum computational resources. It is shown that these tunings are appropriate for a variety of molecules with different characteristics, and most importantly that the tunings are independent of the underlying model chemistry but that the tunings for rigid and relaxed surfaces differ slightly. It is shown that for the problem of molecular conformational search, the most efficient GA actually reduces to an evolutionary algorithm.

Dr. Matt Addicoat's the Chemist; I'm the Computer Scientist. But he knows more about Computer Science than I do about Chemistry. He should do - he was one of my CompSci students at ADFA.

"When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master"

Just call me Zobie-wan.

The Submarines of October

From The Submarines of October, how close we came to Nuclear war in 1962.

Very close. Very close indeed.

Soviet submarine commanders were highly disciplined and unlikely to use nuclear weapons by design, but the unstable conditions on board raised the spectre of an accident. Orlov himself believes that the major danger was not from the unauthorized use of a nuclear weapon but from an accident caused by the interaction of men and machines under the most trying of circumstances. Captain Joseph Bouchard, the author of a major study on Naval operations during the missile crisis, supports this point when he suggests that the "biggest danger" was not from "deliberate acts" but from accidents, such as an accidental torpedo launch.
...
Possibly even more dangerous was an incident on submarine B-59 recalled by Vadim Orlov, who served as a communications intelligence officer. In an account published by Mozgovoi (see document 16), Orlov recounted the tense and stressful situation on 27 October when U.S. destroyers lobbed PDCs (practice depth charges - they make a loud noise, but that's all) at B-59. According to Orlov, a "totally exhausted" Captain Valentin Savitsky, unable to establish communications with Moscow, "became furious" and ordered the nuclear torpedo to be assembled for battle readiness. Savitsky roared "We're going to blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all." Deputy brigade commander Second Captain Vasili Archipov calmed Savitsky down and they made the decision to surface the submarine.
...
While the four Soviet Foxtrot submarines did not have combat orders, the Soviet Navy sent two submarines, B-75 and B-88, to the Caribbean and the Pacific respectively, with specific combat orders. B-75, a "Zulu" class diesel submarine, commanded by Captain Nikolai Natnenkov, carried two nuclear torpedoes. It left Russian waters at the end of September with instructions to defend Soviet transport ships en route to Cuba with any weapons if the ships came under attack.
...
Another submarine, B-88, left a base at Kamchatka peninsula, on 28 October, with orders to sail to Pearl Harbor and attack the base if the crisis over Cuba escalated into U.S.-Soviet war. Commanded by Captain Konstatine Kireev, B-88 arrived near Pearl Harbor on 10 November and patrolled the area until 14 November when it received orders to return to base, orders that were rescinded that same day, a sign that Moscow believed that the crisis was not over. B-88 did not return to Kamchatka under the very end of December.

The weapons to be used in the attack? Nuclear-tipped torpedos to be fired into the harbour. 15kt yield each, about the same as the weapon used in Nagasaki.

If that had happened... if nuclear torpedos would have been used by the Russians - and what the USA didn't know was that nuclear-tipped anti-ship missiles were operational in Cuba, and would have been used in such a case... then if Pearl Harbor got nuked as well....

Russki would be a dead language. The US had bombs big enough to not just vapourise a city, but make vast areas lethally radioactive. They had delivery systems too, while the USSR had very few rockets, and even fewer bombers capable of attacking the USA. The US SIOP - Single Intergrated Operational Plan - involved everything from unreliable missiles, through to inaccurate cruise missiles with miss distances in miles (but with a 5 Megaton warhead, that didn't matter), down to propellor-driven Skyraider aircraft launched from carriers to attack port cities in semi-suicide attacks "lobbing" small nukes nearly vertically in a half-loop, and hoping to escape before what went up came down. And lots and lots of B-52s, each with two 5-megaton warheads.

The quote from Dr Strangelove is accurate regarding US likely losses:

President Merkin Muffley: You're talking about mass murder, General, not war!
General "Buck" Turgidson: Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks.

Sounds about right.

The Cold War sucked. I was 4 years old at the time, and with the high-priority targets we knew about (a nuclear weapon manufacturing & storage facility, a regional centre of government, and a US bomber base) all within 10 km... the fireballs would have overlapped where I lived. The USSR had plenty of weapons capable of hitting the UK, just not many that could reach the US.

We didn't know about the ROC secret bunker buried deep under the fields behind our house. That would have been a target too: we would have been in the crater for that one.

So think about it: no matter how bad things are, if the Many-worlds explanation of quantum mechanics is correct, there's quite a few high-probability universes not far from here where things are a heck of a lot worse. And take comfort from the fact that we dodged that particular bullet in this one.

The Argument against Monocultures

No matter whether you're Left or Right, please bear in mind the words of Oliver Cromwell (not my favourite person BTW):

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."

Try to see why others think the way they do. Try to think about whether some of what they're saying might actually be justified, to however small an extent. Try to look for weaknesses and flaws in your own beliefs.

Then go out and do the best you can. Don't let doubt deter you from doing what you see is right, just be prepared to refine and improve your judgement there. If you demonise all your opponents, you won't recognise the real nasties on the opposite side - or on yours. You can bank on it that in matters great and small, both exist.

The Biology of Sexual Orientation

My family health issues have subsided, though I'm still swamped with teaching and compiling my thesis.

It's been a month without blogging - the longest gap so far. All I can say is that writing up a PhD thesis will do that to you.

Blogging will continue to be light, but at least won't be non-existent. Hopefully things will be back to normal before Christmas.

In the meantime, for your edification and enjoyment, The Biology of Sexual Orientation - a presentation in 9 parts.

Part I: Introduction:


Part II: Biological Concepts


Part III: A Scientific Approach


Part IV: Family Studies and Birth Order


Part V: Molecular Studies


Part VI: A Neurohormonal Model


Part VII: Functional Cerebral Asymmetry


Part VIII: Hypothalamic Activation


Part IX: Conclusion

Blogging will be light for a while

Family Emergency I'm afraid - my Mother in Law just got released from hospital today after collapsing last week.

Plus PhD plus teaching. Hopefully I'll be back to my usual daily blogging soon.

Freaks and Perverts

As a follow-up to the previous post, from Yahoo News: 'X' now a gender option in Australian passports - Yahoo! News

The comments (nearly all from US readers) are instructive. Here's some of the more popular ones, those "upvoted".

And the world draws closer to the end of times.

Why is it the world bends over backwards for these broken people? Let them adjust to the mainstream. A tiny percentage of confused nutters shouldn't get to modify any aspects of society.

Male or female, that's it! Don't confuse yourself with another!

Oh this is just ridiculous!!!!!! What really surprises me though is that America with all it's Gay lovers didn't do this first.

God that just makes me sick. A very small amount of people in the world are actually born with this problem then there's way more people who just THINK they're not the right gender. Well guess what, if you were born a girl or a guy THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE stop trying to change yourself. Leave the doctors open to the people who actually need the help.

I do love how people try to explain trannies away using "psychology" as a crutch when genetic science already has a way to determine your gender. Sewing on or inverting an appendage makes you another gender as much as stitching in whiskers and sewing on a tail makes you feline. Or if you'd prefer I use a psychological backdrop... Believing you are another gender does not make you that gender anymore than believing you are Napoleon makes you a late 18th century French military strategist emperor. If psychologists played into any other delusion as much as they did with "gender identity" they'd rightfully lose their license to practice.

"Intersex people, who are biologically not entirely male or female, will be able to list their gender on passports as "X."" DNA can't be changed. It also identifies the sex of the individual.

You geneticly inferior filth.

Male, Female, Sodomist, this covers everybody

They should only have three options on any passport in the world: "Male" for human beings born male and currently male, "Female" for human beings born female and currently female, and "Freak" as a catch-all for pretty much everyone else who does not fall into the first two categories. This approach has the value of being the most accurate representation possible.

Well there goes Australia!! Stupid fu---ing libs another gov't. of disgusting minds!!

Every cell in you body has DNA which dictates whether you are male or female. External appearance or mood or DENIAL does not. You can complain about how you are a "Woman in a man's body", and even mutilate yourself with surgery and get implants and pump yourself up with hormones, for what? To look like some sad caricature abomination of a woman. Don't expect people to respect you as something that you can never be. It is like a white person who DEMANDS to be recognized as black, even to the point that they get nose surgery and wear black face all day. Should they be recognized as being a respectable black person, or some joke of a freak in denial?

God says homosexuals are sinning and homosexuals say they are not ....think I'll side with God and this one. That would be the God of Love , not their god of lust

toleranceis not a virtue, it is a cowardly vice , no one has to tolerate this homosexual maggot infested garbage

Why does the world continue to conform to the freaks and not the other way around

Now they can travel to Gaysrael without any problem

Come Jesus Come quickly, Soddom and Gomorrah all over again. And what followed....read about it in the Holy Bible.

The government down under is F()KING nuts. Why not an A for asexual people that have sex with them selfs and reproduce that way too.OH OH OH and and why not an N for nosesexual people that stick their fingers up there noses for sex and reproduction. LOL Geee

The world is coming to an end that is what's happening. For people to say things like this does not bother them or will not affect them is living in great deceit. You will see... inthe end how it will affect you. The world system is crumbling and Jesus is waiting for that trumpet to sound before he ride up in here and take us believers home and leave all the the people who chose to do their own agenda and own will in life. Then you will see how it will affect you!!! I thank God I will not be here to see it. I will always be repentant and live according to God's way not man sinful ways. By the way we (belivers) do have a right to judge according to God's Word not our own.

They've gone too far. If you want to be a freak, don't broadcast it to the rest of the world and expect us to accept it. These PC idiots are crying for "trans-species" rights now. As far as I'm concerned, if you don't feel like you are the gender or species you were born as --you're delusional and suffering from a mental disorder.

We wouldnt want to anger the freaks. They might genetically alter a hissy fit and call it a natural state of being!

there shouldnt be any thing on the passport other than ,,, m,,, or ,,, f,,,, all homosexuals, trannys, cross dressers, pedophiles, homosexual pedophiles, beast lovers, dead body part lovers, and sexual freaks should be branded on their foreheads with a big x

Transgender freaks should be shunned by society.

gays are defects in biology evil to god there is no other gender period aussies tend to be loons

JEWS and ZIONISM will destroy all cultures. We need the great father once again to take care of those SOBs

homosexual are the ignorant hating bigots they are complaing about, they cant stand themselves, live in shame and are the morally disgusting freaks that want to destroy your children by infecting them with perverted propaganda , protect your children at all cost

A bunch of jewish professors who are bent on destroying western culture convinced a bunch of high school drop outs that "it's the right thing to do".

I bet JEWS pushed the issue, since their goal is to destroy western civilization. Read the zionist manifesto.

tolerance, political correctness and sensitivity are not virtues they are cowardly vices,,, stand up for who you are and what you believe, being tolerant does not mean respecting rights, they are not the same thing, condemning people who accept and exercise homosexual behavior is an act of justice and morally mandatory ,,, flush the gay bowel movement down the toilet were it belongs

In the animal kingdom and the universe, there are only 2 sexes. Those liberal left wing influenced by the Jews just invented a third sex which does not exist.

Sorry. Their are only two genders, male and female. Period. No debate. Deal with it.

Stop trying to rationalize your perversion of nature by pretending it is 'normal'. You are freaks. The only ones that don't think so are other freaks.

Sorry. Their are only two genders, male and female. Period. No debate. Deal with it.

This is what happens when Jewish Harvard school influence the academics of another country. The world should boycott any liberal freakish jewish made unnatural notions of sexes

it should be , m = normal male , f = normal female, hmp = homosexual male pervert, hfp = homosexual female pervert, txp = transsexual pervert, cxp = confused sexual pervert cdf = cross dressing freak or just an x, x= sick freaks,,, , it is not normal to lick toilets or put something in your mouth...

God created man and woman...not deformed freaks of nature

Deviates will not inherit the Kingdom of God!

This is ridiculous!. Western societies are replacing common sense with politcal correctness. You're just man (XY) or woman (XX). Period.

I have to remind myself that this is the country that put a human on the moon.

Meanwhile, what the policy actually means... with grateful thanks to Kathy Noble for passing this on.

If you quote this information on your website, could you please attribute it to a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
 
"This  new policy  makes it easier for members of the sex and gender diverse community to obtain a passport in their preferred gender.  Sex reassignment surgery is no longer a prerequisite to the issue of a passport in a new gender. 
 
The passport will show the person as either female (f)  male (m)  or intersex, indeterminate, unspecified (x) to reflect their preferred gender identity.
 
Applicants will have to provide a statement from a medical practitioner registered with the Medical Board of Australia, or equivalent overseas authority, certifying that they have undergone, or are receiving, appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition; that they are intersex and live in a particular gender; or are of indeterminate sex.
 
The policy also applies to intersex applicants who do not accept the sex assigned to them at birth and who live in a different gender, as well as those who wish to have ‘x’ appear in their passport to identify their sex as indeterminate.
 
Applicants must meet all other normal passport requirements, such as providing proof of identity documents to support their identity in the wider community.
 
The policy removes unnecessary obstacles to recording a person’s preferred gender in their passport.  It has been developed in close consultation with the sex and gender diverse community.
 
This initiative is in line with the Australian Government’s commitment to remove discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or sexual identity. "
 
 This information will soon be available on the passports website.  They are just in the process of updating the information.
 
Kind regards,
 Dana
 Dana Robertson
Media Liaison Officer
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
tel: + 61 2 6261 1555
fax: +61 2 6261 1325
media@dfat.gov.au

I need such a refreshing dose of sanity after writing the first part of this post. The Hatred is just so unremitting, and from so very many people, a distinct majority of the commenters. And of course, the perpetual canary in the coalmine, Anti-Semitism is there.

Passports - The Final Chapter ?

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Hon Kevin Rudd MP

ATTORNEY-GENERAL
The Hon Robert McClelland MP

GETTING A PASSPORT MADE EASIER FOR SEX AND GENDER DIVERSE PEOPLE

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Attorney-General Robert McClelland today announced new guidelines to make it easier for sex and gender diverse people to get a passport in their preferred gender.

Under the guidelines, sex reassignment surgery will no longer be a prerequisite to issue a passport in a person’s preferred gender.

“Sex and gender diverse people now have the option of presenting a statement from a medical practitioner supporting their preferred gender,” said Mr Rudd.

“This amendment makes life easier and significantly reduces the administrative burden for sex and gender diverse people who want a passport that reflects their gender and physical appearance.”

The initiative is in line with the Australian Government’s commitment to remove discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and sexual orientation.

“Most people take for granted the ability to travel freely and without fear of discrimination,” Mr McClelland said.

“This measure will extend the same freedoms to sex and gender diverse Australians.

“While it’s expected this change will only affect a handful of Australians, it’s an important step in removing discrimination for sex and gender diverse people.

“Importantly, this policy addresses a number of the recommendations contained in the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Sex Files report.”

CANBERRA
14 SEPTEMBER 2011

UNCLASSIFIED

The Capability Im-Maturity Model (CIMM)

The Capability Im-Maturity Model (CIMM)

The Capability Maturity Model - CMM - is a powerful tool in process improvement, in Software and in organisations generally. Although replaced by its successor, CMMI, it's still valuable in most cases "out of the box".

From Wiki :

There are five levels defined along the continuum of the CMM and, according to the SEI: "Predictability, effectiveness, and control of an organization's software processes are believed to improve as the organization moves up these five levels. While not rigorous, the empirical evidence to date supports this belief."

1. Initial (chaotic, ad hoc, individual heroics) - the starting point for use of a new or undocumented repeat process.
2. Repeatable - the process is at least documented sufficiently such that repeating the same steps may be attempted.
3. Defined - the process is defined/confirmed as a standard business process, and decomposed to levels 0, 1 and 2 (the latter being Work Instructions).
4. Managed - the process is quantitatively managed in accordance with agreed-upon metrics.
5. Optimizing - process management includes deliberate process optimization/improvement.

However... as was pointed out as early as 1996, some organisations are worse than level 1. Much worse. the CIMM extends the CMM, downwards, where organisations that reached rock-bottom started to dig.

The four levels of software immaturity.

0. Negligent Indifference - Failure to allow successful development process to succeed. All problems are perceived to be technical problems. Managerial and quality assurance activities are deemed to be overhead and superfluous to the task of software development process. Reliance on silver pellets.
-1. Obstructive Counter Productive - Counterproductive processes are imposed. Processes are rigidly defined and adherence to the form is stressed. Ritualistic ceremonies abound. Collective management precludes assigning responsibility. Status quo ueber alles.
-2. Contemptuous Arrogance - Disregard for good software engineering institutionalized. Complete schism between software development activities and software process improvement activities. Complete lack of a training program.
-3. Undermining Sabotage - Total neglect of own charter, conscious discrediting of peer organizations software process improvement efforts. Rewarding failure and poor performance.

In my observation, the best government bureaucracies are at about level -1. Many though are at -3.

Do Not Bend, Spindle, or Mutilate

Gordon R Dickson's 1965 story "Computers Don't Argue". Please go and read it to find out how corrupted data entry can cause things to go horribly wrong...Originally published when I was 7, it was reprinted in "creative computing" when I was an undergrad like my students, and still relevant today.

The technology has moved on; we don't use punched cards - we use relational database management systems (RDBMS). But it's now even easier to

INSERT INTO CourtJudgement
VALUES amount, statute, address

instead of

INSERT INTO CourtJudgement
VALUES statute, amount, address

I'm teaching a course on Databases this semester - and this story is one of the teaching materials I use, in the Ethics section. I don't want any of my students to ever bend, spindle or mutilate someone because of such errors.

An Offensive Post?

From Dr Michael Brown, on the Einsatzgruppen-style execution of a gender nonconforming child:

A Fair Question for Gay Activists:

Did gay activism play a role in the murder of Lawrence King?

Did "homophobia" kill 15-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King on February 12, 2008, as gay activists allege -- or did gay activism contribute to his death?

Of course, there is only one real killer, Brandon McInerney, just 14 years old at the time of shooting. He confessed to killing Larry in cold blood in full view of his classmates. But there are others who are complicit in Larry's terribly tragic death, and rather than point the finger at a "homophobic" society, they should point it at themselves. I'm speaking of course of gay activists, who have made Larry into a martyr for the cause of gay activism when, in reality, he was more a victim of gay activism.

Here's a slight re-write, exchanging a few semantic tokens, as might be written by another conservative religious group:

A Fair Question for Americans.

Did US Government policy play a role in 9/11.

Did "Islamism" kill 3000 people on September 11th 2001, as Americans allege -- or did US policy contribute to these deaths?

Of course, there is only one real killer, Osama Bin Laden, and his cohort. He confessed to planning the cold blooded attack in full view of the world, and on video. But there are others who are complicit in these terribly tragic deaths, and rather than point the finger at "Islamists", they should point it at themselves. I'm speaking of course of Americans, who have made the 9/11 victims into martyrs for the cause of American policies when, in reality, they were more victims of American policy.

Dr B and I had a spirited discussion on this. His opinion of my re-write:

As for your article, I find no valid comparison between what I wrote and what you wrote.

There's none so blind etc.

Our point of disagreement can be summarised by this exchange:

Michael L Brown

Your second question: You forget that you're dealing with kids! If black activists told us day and night that the neighborhoods were dangerous for black kids and then encouraged those kids to flaunt their blackness by wearing hoods and taunting white kids, and then a white kid killed one of them, the white kid would be 100% guilty, but the black activists would have blood on their hands.

Zoe Ellen Brain :

There we have disagreement. The civilised response to KKK atrocities, lynchings and murders is *not* killings in return, it *is* taunting, and refusing to be cowed into submission.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I do see your point, I just wonder how you reconcile it with your blatant flaunting of your Calvinism Arminianism**, and encouraging others to do the same.

** Sorry, I can never tell these splinter religious groups apart.

What They Believe

I'm concerned about what appears to be an increase in superstition in the US and elsewhere. A Nehemiah Scudder Presidency, though unlikely, doesn't seem completely impossible these days.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:

A presidential candidate who cuts money for volunteer firefighters, then organises a christian pray-for-rain event as a substitute. (non-christians welcome to hear the word - but not welcome to speak their heathen perversions).

The fact that such things don't work - that can be hidden with sufficient money and application of the "Big Lie". It never happened.

The First Prophet was Nehemiah Scudder, a backwoods preacher turned President (elected in 2012), then dictator (no elections were held in 2016 or later).

How it all happened..

Where things started going downhill with the US economy. Earlier than you think.

The Australian Christian Lobby Exposed

From Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear:

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) was founded way back in 1995, only it wasn’t called the ACL then, it was known as the Australian Christian Coalition (ACC). The name was derived from its American cousin, the scandal-ridden Christian Coalition of America, established by the rabid, right-wing televangelist, Pat Robertson.

Rabid? Really?
Controversies surrounding Robertson include his earlier work as a faith healer, his claim that some Protestant denominations harbor the spirit of the Antichrist, and his claims of having the power to deflect hurricanes through prayer; he has also denounced Hinduism as "demonic" and Islam as "Satanic." Robertson has issued multiple condemnations of feminism, homosexuality, abortion and liberal college professors. Robertson also had financial ties to former presidents Charles Taylor of Liberia and Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, both internationally denounced for their human rights violations. Robertson was criticized worldwide for his call for Hugo Chavez’s assassination and for his remarks concerning Ariel Sharon's health as an act of God.

The week of September 11, 2001, Robertson discussed the terror attacks with Jerry Falwell, who said that "the ACLU has to take a lot of blame for this" in addition to "the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians [who have] helped [the terror attacks of September 11th] happen." Robertson replied, "I totally concur."

OK, Rabid. Moving on...

At first, it seems, there was little attempt to hide the ACC’s dominionist agenda. In fact, one of the organisation’s early journals was called Mandate – an allusion to the belief “that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns”. That’s right, folks, the long-term goal for these people looks a lot like TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION.

The aims of the ACC could not have been clearer: “to reclaim our society and our government for God and to have the Christian voice heard”. Did you hear that, non-religious and secular Australians? You’ve got their country and they want it back.

Not surprisingly, the ACC soon found its dominionist theology and fundamentalist lunacy simply wasn’t going to fly in the Australian political landscape. If it wanted to appeal to ‘middle Australia’ it needed a little cosmetic surgery.

Of course, this didn’t mean the ACC planned to abandon its Christian nationalist agenda and ditsy dogma. God forbid! No! It simply meant that a shiny new veneer was added to make it seem … well … somewhat less batshit crazy.

The veneer slipped a bit recently, with some of the American invitees to a conference on same-sex marriage not having been sufficiently well briefed.

More on Seven Mountains Dominionism etc over at Christian Psychologist Warren Throckmorton's place. Some of them even scare the Theocrats...

The X Factor

Proving once more that chromosomes have nothing to do with masculinity.

For those in the Northern Hemisphere...

The brightest supernova in the last 25 years.



For those of us in the southern latitudes, Ursa Major's not visible. Darnit.

Depressing

From KTLA:

The judge in the Brandon McInerney murder trial has declared a mistrial after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.

The vote was 7 to 5 in favor of finding Brandon McInerney guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
...
Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox told jurors that King was "executed" for who he was, and that the crime was therefore first-degree murder.

"No amount of revisionist history and attempts to paint Larry King as some kind of predator can ever change the fact of what occurred in this case," Fox said. "That is: Larry King was executed for who he was."

Prosecutors have described the shooting as a premeditated murder carried out by a classmate who was a proponent of "racist skinhead philosophy."

According to prosecutors, McInerney sat behind King in the computer lab class on Feb. 12, 2008, didn't do anything for 20 minutes, and then, without saying a word, fired one shot into the back of King's head.

As the teen collapsed to the floor, McInerney stood up, looked around at his astonished classmates and delivered a "second, coup de grâce" shot into King's head, prosecutors allege.

The defense has argued that King taunted and flirted with McInerney, ultimately sparking the fatal confrontation.

Student witnesses have said King had expressed a romantic interest in McInerney, who was humiliated by the attention.

But, when asked by McInerney's lawyer Scott Wipert if he had seen King "chasing boys around," A student identified as 17-year-old Cristian G. answered no.

One of King's friends told the court that King did not aggressively flirt with other boys at the school.
...
Prosecutors say McInerney carefully planned and carried out murder of his eighth-grade classmate.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

During opening statements, the defense argued that McInerney was a troubled boy from a violent home and killed King in the "heat-of-the-moment."

Fox countered that McInerney had threatened to shoot King, who was openly gay, the day before the incident after the two were involved in an argument in science class.

McInerney had just turned 14 when he allegedly shot King with a .22-caliber handgun.

In California, the "Gay/Trans Panic Defence" was supposed to have been excluded after the murder of Gwen Araujo.

A transgender variation of the gay panic defense was also used in 2004–2005 by the three defendants in the Gwen Araujo homicide case, who claimed that they were enraged by the discovery that Araujo, a transgender teenager with whom they had engaged in sex, had male genitalia. The first trial resulted in a jury deadlock; in the second, defendants Mike Magidson and Jose Merél were convicted of second-degree murder, while the jury again deadlocked in the case of Jason Cazares. Cazares later entered a plea of no contest to charges of voluntary manslaughter.

But it seems not. The Judge can advise the Jury to disregard it, but they don't have to obey.

All a defence lawyer has to do is assert that the victim "came on" to the suspect - no witnesses or other evidence is necessary - and deadlock, or even acquittal - is likely, regardless of the other facts.

Closer to home...

From the Melbourne Age

A transgender woman yesterday told how she was attacked while in a motorised wheelchair and hit about 70 times with a garden spade.

“I thought I was going to die,” Donna Macklan said in Albury Local Court when describing the attack on her in January.

She said she was knocked from her wheelchair as she tried to leave a house in North Albury, after a confrontation, the Border Mail reports.

The blows were mainly to her lower back. She also suffered a broken elbow.

Christie Keighran yesterday pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, malicious damage, offensive behaviour and resisting arrest.
...
The court was told Ms Macklan had lived as a woman for four years.

She became a partial paraplegic in a car crash several years ago with fractures to her right side and back injuries.

She can walk only a few steps.

There was an argument when she went to a Kentucky Avenue house about 3.25pm on January 15.

Keighran, 22, of Turner Street, Lavington, called her a (her)maphrodite and fetched a spade from the yard.

Ms Macklan tried to leave, but Keighran began hitting her motorised chair, causing damage to either side, the computer box and tyres.

“She was trying to hit me, but luckily she was hitting the wheelchair,” Ms Macklan said.

She was knocked from the wheelchair and hit several times to the head and face.

So a paraplegic gets attacked by a 22 year old woman with a shovel she specifically goes and gets to complete the attack with. Fortunately, there was no serious attempt to murder the victim. I guess we have to be thankful for small mercies.

Sometimes it's difficult not to give in to paranoia. Yes, there's risks, these should not be underestimated, even in a relatively sane place such as Canberra, Australia. But we can't go around living our lives dominated by fears, even well-grounded ones. After all, we have police to protect us.

The off-duty Metropolitan Police Department officer, Kenneth Furr, who allegedly shot two transgender women seated in a car early Friday, Aug. 26, at First and Pierce Streets NW, appeared for a preliminary hearing at D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday, Aug. 30, where his lawyer withdrew from the case and was replaced by another. Furr's new attorney, Harold Martin, asked for a postponement of the preliminary hearing, which was granted and moved to Friday, Sept. 2. Furr is being held without bond.

According to charging documents made public Aug. 27 at Furr's arraignment, Furr approached one of the transgender women at a CVS at 400 Massachusetts Ave. NW early Friday morning. That led to a second exchange with both women and a male outside the store, where Furr allegedly pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the group, who fled into the CVS. Afterward, the three who encountered Furr joined two others and trailed Furr, both parties in vehicles, in hopes of gleaning enough information to report him to authorities.

The charging document reports that Furr stopped his car near First and Pierce Streets NW, exited and pointed a handgun at the vehicle trailing him. The driver ducked to avoid getting shot, and the two vehicles collided. Furr then allegedly climbed onto the hood of the vehicle and continued shooting. At least one of the women who was shot said she heard Furr say, ''Ima kill all of you.''

One male victim was shot and taken to George Washington University Hospital in serious condition, while the two transgender women who were shot were taken to Howard University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Hmmm... maybe not.

My son told me in the car yesterday that he tells others at school that I'm his aunt, rather than his father. To avoid "issues".

He was worried that I'd be upset. Naturally, I approved of his action, anything to keep my boy out of danger, hurt feelings be darned. I'm proud of him, that he had the sense to do this, even at age 10. That he had the personal courage and responsibility not to ask me, but to tell me, as he judged (rightly) that he knew his own situation best. And not least, that he thought of my feelings too, and wanted to make sure that I knew, and hoped I understood.

I told him that as long as he knew I was his Daddy, and always would be, the rest of the world didn't need to know. That I approved of his action, and was proud of him.

He's a far better and more mature man at 10 than the killer of Larry King was at 14, or ever will be. I'm sorry that he has to do this, to be tested this way, but that is the world he and I live in.

Depressing, isn't it?

Personal names around the world

It's been a long time since I've done a post on Software. Time for this one, and the difficulties faced in making a database about something as simple as a name...

Personal names around the world

In many parts of the world, parts of names are derived from titles, locations, genealogical information, caste, religious references, and so on. Here are a few examples:

the Indian name Kogaddu Birappa Timappa Nair follows the order villageName-fathersName-givenName-lastName.

the Rajasthani name Aditya Pratap Singh Chauhan is composed of givenName-fathersName-surname-casteName.

in another part of India the name Madurai Mani Iyer represents townName-givenName-casteName.

the Arabic Abu Karim Muhammad al-Jamil ibn Nidal ibn Abdulaziz al-Filistini translates as "Father of Karim, Muhammad (given name), The beautiful, Son of Nidal, Son of Abdulaziz, the Palestinian". Karim is Muhammad's first-born son.