In 2000 I voted for W. My tendencies are quite liberal, but he seemed much better than more Clinton years via gore. This week I was reminded why I thought so highly of W. when he said the following.

"Bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone. It provides permission for cruelty and bigotry and compromises the moral education of children. The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them."

We need to demand civil behavior.

Jill

This morning, a part of myself, died. As I awoken to the news that Gord Downie had passed away from glioblastoma (brain cancer), at the age of 53. Just 6 years older than I am. Upon hearing this, I broke down and cried for several minutes, holding Venus, my oldest Queen, to my chest. One way or another, the Tragically Hip have been part of my life, since 1991, when my then roommate introduce me to them, as we were both students at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Just before they released Fully Completely. Hard to believe 26 years have passed since then.

This video blog on the BBC is quite illuminating.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-41502661/100-women-i-tran...

Firstly, the narrator is Transgendered and a PHD.
She talks about the monetary cost of being a woman in business today.
She puts it at $250K over a lifetime. (how much worse will it be for M2F transpeople?)

Well, imagine my surprise to wake up this morning and find out Edmonton suffered an (alleged) terror attack.

Details are still coming in, but so far it seems that no one was killed, but several people were injured including at least one police officer, and a suspect is in custody.

There will be those who use this as justification for bigoted attacks on immigrants or Muslims in general, but I believe most Canadians are smart enough to see through such things.

Still, positive vibes and prayers are appreciated, so keep em coming.

So I noticed something pretty awesome in my newsfeeds today...

https://www.wired.com/story/a-patient-gets-the-new-transgend...

Definitely something I'll be exploring for myself! I expect this will supplant the older surgeries pretty quickly judging by the preliminary results.

Just thought I'd share!

Abby

As tomorrow is the anniversary of 9/11, my thoughts and prayers turn to those who died, and to those who survived but are still processing the trauma.

If you find tomorrow tough, please contact me if I can be a shoulder to lean on.

Yes very bad news - well for me at any rate, I'm sat here at Europoort near Rotterdam, Holland waiting to board my ride back to Yorkshire.

Yep my short sojourn to foreign land is over, i'll be the wrong side of the water in the morning and hopefully meeting Podracer for dinner Monday night.

Nena has been with me so you will likely get words and pictures next week.

So ttfn
Wish me a flat crossing

Mads

Sorry, all, I did not mean to say "square miles" when I said 200 square miles; rather I meant the entire radius of the circle which brings it a lot closer to over 125, 000+ miles.
A close friend of my youngest son figured out the 9 TRILLION feet of rain water thus far, that if laid out "flat', would cover the entire US at a depth of 1.7" of water.

Sorry, all, I did not mean to say "square miles" when I said 200 square miles; rather I meant the entire radius of the circle which brings it a lot closer to over 125, 000+ miles.
A close friend of my youngest son figured out the 9 TRILLION feet of rain water thus far, that if laid out "flat', would cover the entire US at a depth of 1.7" of water.

Hi all,
I learned this yesterday after listening to the Attorney General of Texas telling a news reporter how to describe the current disaster area within Texas.

He said to give a person an idea of the massive area size being flooded, here is how to do it; so for all of you who live elsewhere in the world or even the USA;
Find your own location on a map of your city or nation. Pinpoint it, then draw a circle radiating out 200 square miles (321.869 kilometers) in ALL directions of the circle.

THAT is how big the area is that is presently flooded in Texas.

Have survived the storm with themselves and their properties intact. It can be a very frightening experience when nature unleashes its power and we're reminded how insignificant we really are.

A historic moment, as Canada enters the 21st century with the federal government announcing it's introducing gender neutral passports for its citizens like Australia and New Zealand does, with the holder being able to select male, female, or 'x' for other as their gender selection. Replacing the old passport policy, which a transperson could only get a temporary passport in their chosen gender, if they were to have SRS done within a two year period and needed a doctor's note to accompany it, stating this. The new passport policy comes into effect August 31, 2017.

Here, in its entirety, is the NASA / PBS News Hour Feed of the Solar Eclipse.

Warning: The feed is 4 hours long, but IMHO, worth every minute. It is STUNNING!!!

Solar Eclipse, 21-August-2017

You're welcome.

An interesting video on the BBC news site about an experiment with gender stereotyping.

Gender specific toys: do you stereotype children?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40936719

http://www.post-gazette.com/life/fashion/2017/07/31/Gender-f...

What’s the difference between men’s and women’s clothing? These days, the lines are blurred.

More bad news from this bigoted administration. http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/338044-commerce-d...

US President Donald Trump today announced that Transgendered people can't serve in the US Military.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40729996

This seems to be another rolling back the advances made under the previous president.

How very different this is from the British Military as some people who post here know from first hand experience.

Sad, so very sad.
Samantha

See this report from BBC News

Consultation on changing legal gender to be launched
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40692782

Well i'm getting a bit jiggy on three fronts this weekend.

First is the possibility that Chris Froome will, in less than 48 hours take his 4th TdeF title. Yep, just 22km remain to affect the result - no one's daft enough to race on Sunday other than the sprinters. The race hasn't exactly been action packed, the loss of some exciting riders early on has coloured that but it certainly shouldn't detract from the achievement.

This is where all the confiscated wildlife items go in the US, the importers of which are rarely prosecuted. It should be an item of shame in any civilised country.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/20/house-of...

Who is Philippa York? Only one of the greatest British cyclists of all time in her previous life as Robert Millar, who has announced her new identity. I attach a link from the Guardian (where else?) with a supportive article for those who want to read it. My only comment, I hope you're as successful in your new life as you were in the old.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/06/philippa-york-...

Ok, as some folks know, someone here in Oregon sued for the right to list their gender on their ID as "other". and they won.

Back in May or June it was announced that Oregon DMV was going to change the process and forms to allow anyone to do that.

I grabbed a copy of the "Change your Gender Designation" form back in June, but it hadn't been updated. eventually I'm going to upload it to my website as historical document.