The article does a good job of outlining the potential sources for our being transgendered as well as the ethical issues in intervening in children who are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. There are other good insights in the article as well, such as the authors opinion that psychological issues (such as depression, fairly common in the trans-community) are really a result of not dealing constructively with a person’s gender dysphoria.

Click here for this excellent article, from this well respected medical institution in New England

4-2-2008 Update
There is a nice Q&A Interview on the author of this Lahey Clinic article, Dr. Norm Spack. It was done in Boston.Com. You can reach the Boston.com Article by clicking here.

The ACS recommends a Breast Cancer Self Exam (BSE) monthly and WebMD has insructions you can read at this link here.  The Koman Foundation has an outstanding BSE Tool.  There are some additional options also for the BSE and for clinical exams that may be worth taking a look at that are reported to make these exams easier:

Mark for Life T-Shirt
This t-shirt shows wearers exactly how to do a BSE; simply follow the arrows.  T-shirts are based on bra size and come with instructions and a washproof pen to record suspicious bumps or changes.  You can check them out at Mark for Life or ring them up at 877-512-5433.

FaRose and Fenomenole breast self-exam scented oils
This helps your fingers slide over your skin (or your partners   ) for easy exams.   You can check the FaRose oil out at ZenMomma, 877-804-4749 or the Fenomenole oil at Bath By Bettijo, 877-528-1584.

The Aware Breast Self-Exam Pad
This FDA approved pad has liquid sealed between two sheets of plastic and, when pressed to the breast, it actually reduces the resistance between the fingers doing the exam and the breast being examined to give a better feel for lumps or changes.  You can see them at Aware BSE, 800-854-3002.

MammoPad by BioLucent, Inc (now owned by Hologic)
The FDA approved MammoPad takes some of the discomfort and pain out of a mammogram.  Sitting between the breast and the mammography machine it reduces discomfort by half researchers claim.  The pads aren’t available in stores, but you can check the MammoPad/Hologic web site or call 866-460-4141 to see which mammography centers use them.

(Source material for this article came from USA Weekend Magazine, p. 13, January 13-15 2006 edition, author Karen J. Bannan)

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Update for 10/3/11: The “Mark for Life” shirts appear to be out of business.  Link is dead with no forward

Update for 10/26/09:  ZenMomma’s site appears to be out of business; Mammopad now a part of Hologic; added links to instructions on how to do a breast cancer self-exam (BSE)

Virtual worlds have been around for a long time of course, MUDs, IRC worlds and virtual taverns, and today’s Web Based Chat have been around for a while.  People do meet each other and fall head over heels in love (or at least imagine they are).  But the communication piece that seems to always be missing in those "worlds" are the most important parts of interpersonal communication – the non-verbal kind: touch, facial expression, voice tone, hand movements, body lean.  All of these and so many others convey so much to the context of good communication it’s hard to imagine having good communication without them.   However, with the worlds the article mentions it appears some of that non-verbal communication (such as a person’s imagination, or how they might react to a given situation – albeit simulated) can be done.

Have a click over the article here to read for yourself.

The project, funded by the NIH, is designed to:

describe the economic, social and personal, family and workplace experiences of male to female trans-persons, how these experiences change over the course of our lives, and the impact of these experiences on our mental and physical health.

This sounds like a worthwhile study that will produce some very valuable information on the transgendered community.   If you live in the NY Metro area, go have a look, sounds like you could be a part of history if you do!

(source: Monday Funnies Yahoo Group)

Three couples--one elderly, one middle-aged and one newlywed--wantedto join a church. The priest said, "We have special requirements fornew parishioners. You must abstain from having sex for two weeks." Thecouples all agreed and came back at the end of two weeks.

The pastor went to the elderly couple and asked, "Were you able toabstain from sex for the two weeks?"

The old man replied, "No problem at all, Father."

"Congratulations! Welcome to the church!" said the priest.

The priest went to the middle-aged couple and asked, "Well, were youable to abstain from sex for the two weeks?"

The middle-aged man replied, "The first week was not too bad. Thesecond week I had to sleep on the couch for a couple of nights, but,yep, we made it."

"Congratulations! Welcome to the church," said the priest.

The priest then went to the newlywed couple and asked, "Well, were youable to abstain from sex for two weeks?"

"No Pastor, we were not able to go without sex for the two weeks," theyoung man replied sadly.

"What happened?" inquired the priest.

"My wife was reaching for a can of corn on the top shelf and droppedit," said the young man. "When she bent over to pick it up, I wasovercome with lust and took advantage of her right there."

"You understand, of course, this means you will not be welcome in ourchurch," stated the priest.

"We know," said the young man. "We're not welcome at the supermarketanymore either."

============================

Ten Reasons God Created Woman

10. God worried that Adam would be lost in the Garden of Eden becausehe wouldn't ask for directions.

9. God knew that someday Adam would need someone to hand him the TVremote. (Parenthetically, it has been noted that men don't want to seewhat's on ON TV; they want to see WHAT ELSE is on.)

8. God knew that Adam would never make a doctor's appointment.

7. God knew that when Adam's fig leaf wore out, he would never buy anew one for himself.

6. God knew that Adam would not remember to take out the garbage.

5. God wanted man to be fruitful and multiply, but he knew Adam wouldnever be able to handle labor pains and childbirth.

4. As "keeper of the garden," Adam would need help in finding histools.

3. Adam needed someone to blame for the Apple Incident, and foranything else that was really his fault.

2. As the Bible says: "It is not good for man to be alone."

1. And the No. 1 reason of all (Tada, drum roll, fanfare, etc.]

God stepped back, looked at Adam, and declared:     "I can do better than that."

============================

There was a religious woman who had to do a lot of traveling for herbusiness. Flying made her very nervous, so she always took her Biblealong with her.

One time, she was sitting next to a man. When he saw her pull out herBible, he gave a little chuckle and smirk and went back to what he wasdoing.

After awhile, he turned to her and asked, "You don't really believeall that stuff in there do you?"

The woman replied, "Of course I do. It is the Bible."

He said, "Well, what about that guy that was swallowed by that whale?"

She replied, "Oh, Jonah. Yes, I believe that, it is in the Bible."

He asked, "Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time insidethe whale?"

The woman said, "Well, I don't really know. I guess when I get toheaven, I will ask him."

"What if he isn't in heaven?" the man asked sarcastically.

"Then you can ask him," replied the woman.

You can check them out here at Braingle

As I was doing my nails that night, I started thinking through some of the lessons from my visit, and how they might apply to any small company – or even small non-profit organization that has a big vision to help or change a sector of our society.

What are some of the Lessons Learned?

• Bullsh** with Integrity!
  • The small firm I visited wasn’t afraid to have a little hubris about what they did – but they didn’t let the fluff outstrip the facts of what they could really do.  Lesson?  Be proud of what you do and don’t be afraid to say so.  Don’t let others bully you around with their “apparent” knowledge, but don’t stray beyond the strengths of what you can actually do.
• Have fun and laugh alot
  • This small firm, in the middle of mid-America wasn’t afraid to pull practical jokes, laugh at their own foibles in the process of doing development, or even just kick back.  I don’t know alot of companies doing that today honestly.  It’s a good lesson in taking a breather and not sweating the small stuff.  This company knows they could get crushed by a Nortel or a Lucent, but, they also know they are having fun right now and making hay while their larger competitors are struggling for meaning in a changing telecommunications world.
  • Age is meaningless when passion fuels you
    • I was really impressed with this companies spunk, tenacity and their innovation!  And, that 75% of the employees were 40 or older.  They were inventing things outside of their standard mission simply to make their standard mission work.  No one else in their industry was doing a thing to solve some basic problems, most of their competitors and fellow travelers were sitting on their hands just going with the status quo.  Not this small firm.  It showed me that age is meaningless for innovation and excellence when passion for what you do fuels you (and that stands true regardless if the passion is for engineering or for social justice).

• Do very cool things
  • This is related to the above lesson.  And Steve Jobs made a strong case for this in his commencement speech at Stanford this year (see link here for that very worthwhile read).  Basically, this small firm found something that was a problem in their industry and then they went after it.  They saw what they did as industry changing and as a bit of an adventure.  But in the midst of it, they were doing COOL THINGS, and that sense of impacting an industry for massive change really drives them.  Are you doing cool things?  In work?  In school?  In some social justice or grass community action work?  Don’t just go along in the rut – do something cool!

• Make some money
  • This small firm was very frugal.  They put their money into tools for their people, salaries and benefits, and in inventing.  They keep their overhead low (no Lear jet for the CEO of this company).  And they make money.  Not a ton, no one is getting rich – yet!   If your a non-profit, are you losing money or are you being as fiscally efficient as you can be without sitting on crates for office furniture?  If your a department in a larger firm, are you making money or are you getting that entitlement mentality?  Making money isn’t wrong and the results of that can be a broad swatch of goodness deepening on what you do with those profits.

• Long View
  • Unlike the quick fix view of today where ROI is expected in 9 to 12 months or the project or investment is folded, this unique firm knew this was a long term play and acted accordingly.  For sure, there were late night crunches to get a project done or meet a stage in a product development life cycle but this company focuses on a long term vision, balancing the need to generate cash now with the understanding that cool stuff that lasts takes a view that extends beyond the investors quarterly calendar.

Have a lookie at the link and the debate by clicking here.