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.